With the exception of one painting from 2015, the work in this exhibition was created within the last two years.
Typically, the larger paintings are acrylic on wood, abstract, emphasize color and project from the wall. They usually take months or years to complete. The works on paper are representational and involve a variety of media and techniques. They generally take less time to create. Although the drawings are always of places and things, I have come to recognize that they are more abstract than I thought.
While the drawings are not studies for the paintings in a traditional sense, they usually have a relationship to the paintings, often sharing origins in the landscape. Like many painters who deal in some form of abstraction, landscape is an important source of ideas, imagery, and emotions that fuel my work. Music and film are also influential. Whatever the source of the imagery, format or materials, I strive to communicate something of my view of the world and something of my feelings about life to the viewer.
Following the examples of the great painters in history that I love, I have tried to avoid worrying about notions of consistency, style, purity, originality, art world relevance and other false goals. Richard Diebenkorn, one of my favorite painters, spoke of trying to achieve “rightness” in his work. I love that idea and believe that in the end, what matters in painting and drawing is quality. I try to do what is necessary to express the idea of each painting or drawing as honestly and directly as possible.
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