The Gathering Painting

PHILOSOPHY: In imperfection, lies reality, beauty, and character. As a visual artist, my work examines and responds to the notion of narrative and the interplay between singularity and universality in storytelling. The more personal the story, the more universal its message. Focusing on the imperfect in a world that embraces limited or constrictive definitions of beauty, my goal is to challenge those definitions and perceptions. My hope is that I influence a change of mindset wherein beauty truly is redefined in the eye of each beholder. Unique beauty lies beneath the surface of every individual. - STATEMENT: I create abstract assemblages in shape, color, and line. Finding beauty in the unfinished, my work focuses on relationship dynamics and every-day or chance encounters as they impact identity. With intuition and investigative precision, I explore the energy, motivations, chemistry, and undercurrents between individuals - from the inside, out. My creative process involves building a character in layers, mimicking the way in which identities are formed throughout a lifetime: layer by colorful or complex layer. I let the form and placement of figures and shapes imply subsurface content and emotion. Focused on transience and imperfection, some common themes that run through my work are telling the unknown or hidden stories. - APPROACH: My creative approach parallels my analytical process in that my goal is to try to figure out or resolve challenging situations, encounters, experiences, or relationships. As a result, the beginning phases of new paintings can often appear explosive, congested, chaotic, or seemingly overflowing in conflicting colors and content. These expressionistic elements are integral to the entirety of a piece, providing layers and much of the substrata and undercurrents that need to be emphasized or masked in later stages of the creative process. In later stages my creative process transitions from largely intuitive to a dance between the objective and subjective perspectives in the editing phase, where I construct, deconstruct, reveal, or mask details as needed, weaving a metaphorical interpretation of experiences, while leaving each work enigmatic enough to invite viewers to engage. - FOCUS: My art honors survival and the individual spirit and history of people as they coexist, survive, and interact.