Black and White Italian Botanical Painting

These new images expand the memory of my experiences. Hidden secrets partially revealed, trying to blend realism with abstraction. My work is about reconstructing images through a painterly vocabulary. A theatrical, romantic sense of place is the current theme. Color and drawing is inherent in the surfaces. Moments are recalled. Color and image coincide. Synthesizing my version of reality, I seek an easy recognition. I prefer to give the viewer the opportunity to reach their own conclusions. To me, the best of what the activity of painting has to offer at the end of the twentieth century is a glimpse of life, transforming human activity into the surprising language of the visual. What is seen is left up to the viewer to understand individually. To quote Kenneth Baker, an American critic, "Painting should be carried on without cynicism or apology, like a heroic act. Painting is the first and last refuge." I reprocess all of my experiences. I am not the avant garde; I am the artist who comes after the avant garde. I am concerned with the continuity of ideas. I let the materials I use speak for themselves. I thrive on performance and energy of one's own personal vision. I have to reaffirm the reality I can experience. "Painting could be a form of historic dreaming, bringing an artist near the gods, it allows you to go out a door and reenter anew..." Nathan Oliveira, American artist.