Catharsis Painting

My approach to art is raw and explorative. Every mark has its own character and energy imbued within it. Art has catalyzed a metamorphosis in my life, and I am always receiving new insight when creating. Reflecting an autobiographical journey through its ever-evolving aesthetic, my art is embedded with both intentional and intuitive meaning through the application of my materials. I am a mixed media abstract expressionist oil painter. My work is typically rife with texture, and I often incorporate thick pastes before adding alcohol inks, graphite, pastel, acrylics, spray paint and oils, giving many of my paintings a three dimensional viewpoint. The gnarled and shadowed facets of life as well as the uplifting and the transcendent are all incorporated within my mark making. Obsessed with how light interacts with the world, I have been known to include mirror and copper into the paintings, and the sun’s reflection often becomes a part of my compositions. With mirrors particularly, the viewer truly becomes a part of the piece as well. With these elements, depending on the light and surroundings, the experience of the work is ever changing. I once had a teacher who wrote two words for the class to read on the board: Truth and truth, one with a big T and the other a little t. The notion that there could be one all encompassing Truth that transcends all else stirred something in me. To create art is a part of my personal odyssey to discover the big-T Truth, and my paintings weave in little-t truths of various intensities that I may stumble across through my everyday experience. Art is my way of processing. When I paint, I am having a conversation with the world using the materials as my language. I merge these materials with my emotion, reaction to current events, my spirituality and my own individuality as a human on this planet. My work is often layered with vibrant color, and I intend for my paintings to foster strong energies of hope and resilience.