Artist statement for the 2007 show at the Delavan Art Gallery entitled "Maximum Color"

All great works of art exist independent of time, history, and analysis. They are worlds created by the artist in which the viewer is propelled through the artist’s inspiration. The artist expresses from what he knows. An artwork’s quality exists in the perception of the artist’s intentions realized through relationships of various components inherent to the vehicle of expression.

I came to the United States from Germany and spent my younger years growing up in the Mohawk Valley region of upstate New York. Excelling in math, science and art in high school I entered university with all the intentions of pursuing a field of industrial design. After one semester of studio drawing and painting, fine arts became my obsession. I fell in love with the work of French Impressionists and contemporary American artists, Pollock, Rothko, Hofmann and Avery.

In 1976, I graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting. During the last years at Syracuse, it became clear that acceptance in the art world requires the promotion of yourself as an artist. My aversion to this resulted in artwork produced for my own enjoyment and development. The quality of one’s work should be evident in the work itself. That ethic remains as my primary motivational force.

The decision to display my art publicly came about by awareness that there was a lack of contemporary art in galleries that successfully exhibit qualities I consider to be important. I believe what has plagued the fine arts is artwork that relies solely on literary depiction and ignores the elemental components that give the work life.

My inspiration for painting comes from patterns and relationships I have observed. Before the actual painting begins, I decide upon a system of paint application that I will use to convey what I originally experienced. Certain aspects of those forms are realized in the paint that is applied to the canvas. At some time while involved in painting, the work will take over and dictate the decision making process I will make to the reveal the completed artwork. Rather than calculation, creativity should be the result of an artist’s intuition.

Much of art that is easily digestible by the public is primarily literary or conceptual in nature, a distraction to the pure viewing experience. Artists should never rely on story to compose a painting. All quality works of art are autonomous. The process of painting is simple yet my goal remains lofty: combine components elemental to painting in a plastic manner and create a high level visual work of art.