Artist statement for the 2006 show at the Rome Art and Community Center

Visual Reality

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

For me as an artist, depiction is not important. I am more concerned with transitions. How one color form changes into the next, whether it is gradual or abrupt. Color intervals that create tensions or voids. Drawing that can emphasize and organize areas in the painting.

Inspiration comes from what I experience. That could be a scene, a part of a painting I had done or just a concept. The acrylic paint I use many times is very fluid requiring that most of the painting to be done on the floor. This allows me to work on the painting from all sides. The painting’s finished dimensions are not determined until the painting is completed.

Painting starts with the selecting of colors that I wish to use. I also decide the type of space I wish to paint whether it is landscape-horizontal or portrait-vertical or something else. All this can change as the painting progresses. I try not to do what I want but I try to do what is necessary to make the painting work. The artist’s intuition directs his hand. In that lies the artist’s skill and the talent.

My paintings are not illustrations. The painted forms are not abstractions of the natural world. I use no symbolism or iconography. I understand that there is a tendency to see shapes in the clouds of paint. Attempting to accredit meaning to the forms will only obscure the works visual reality. I attempt to produce paintings that are more real than abstract.