Artist Statements
Decorus Regnum
The intention of my work is to have the viewer go beyond everyday thoughts and feelings. To produce a prolonged engagement between the viewer and my work. As I create, each piece takes on its own identity and personality, therefore it is an individual relationship that is created between my work and the viewer.
A large part of my youth was spent in the woods and field near my home. I still love the smell of honeysuckle and the taste of wild raspberries. I remember laying on moss next to the creek and listening to the wind talk to the leaves. In the winter, the snow would silence my footsteps and everything around me. I feel both protective of nature and sadness of society's disparagement of nature in the name of progress. For me, nature is still a place of continued curiosity and wonderment.
Decorus Regnum refers to the Latin definition meaning: beautiful realm. Nature is my main inspiration. I find companionship with the living creatures, plants and their fusions that inhabit my imagined spaces. When wandering through areas often ignored by the main population I realize that the opportunity for the fantastical to exist becomes great. Nature is not to be underestimated or taken for granted. It should be cherished. It should be respected. I find both beauty and at times fear in her mysteries. The more I explore her realm the more she shows me and the more fascinated I become.
"The tree which moves some to the tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."
William Blake
Vici Quod Locus & Terra Incognita
For me, art is a reflection of life, a reflection of self. I look toward the recognition of life as being ongoing and continuous. I work toward a connection between the physical and the spiritual.
Some of my works have Latin titles such as Terra Incognita meaning unknown territories or Vici Quod Locus meaning time and space. Using this early language is a way of connecting ancient times to today thus assisting its existence.
I begin by placing lines and shapes on the surface. I then work on creating an environment for them. Through creating an environment, some of these markings disappear while others become more prevalent. Existing upon an atmospheric surface, some of the markings that were once void of emotion are now charged with energy. By retaining an element of chance and chaos by juxtaposing hard lines against an atmospheric surface, I create an aesthetic form over a natural form. The two co-exist yet defy any planar standard. The contradiction creates a complimentary environment, not having one dominate over the other.
Many of the works have snaps and circles. The snaps are lines created through a physical process of stretching string containing dry pigment across an area and then snapping it. The process instantly transfers the dry pigment onto the work in progress. These snaps cover a distance of space on the surface much like a memory can bring us to a moment in time from years before in a split second. The circles represent pockets of energy, which may vary in size, color, and transparency. These acknowledge my personal belief that time and space have relative meanings.
The difficulty for abstract art today is to sustain the sense of spiritual stimmung in the face of society that assimilates abstract art as simply another kind of communication and so makes us insensitive and unresponsive to it. As (Mier) Shapiro wrote, experiencing art as well as creating it involves "a process ultimately opposed to communication as it is understood now" Authentically spiritual abstract art does not so much "communicate" as "induce an attitude of communication and contemplation."
The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting 1890-1985 p.314
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