Woke Painting

As a Kobe, Japan raised and based artist, I feel my work gives a sense of purpose to my existence as it affords me the opportunity to express my inner feelings, giving my heart and my soul the chance to speak for themselves.I use painting, sculpture or wood burning as a sort of inner language. ​ I don't approach my art with a fixed goal.I don't know what story may be told by the work until the work is nearly finished.I listen to my inner language and work as an interpreter, utilizing my conscious skill to bring to life my unconscious expressions.My art may seem like it emphasizes the darker side of life but I believe the dark side is both beautiful, seductive and ultimately necessary to confront in order to see the lighter side in it's total. It is my fondest wish that my audience may "meet" my work.To encounter it and subsequently have a meaningful and unique relationship with it. Art and audience may seem like opposing forces but through my subject matter, I investigate the nature of these relationships And try to reveal the symbiotic dependency they share.Perhaps also revealing that this relationship can only grow when each party is conscious of one another's participation. Such as in the relationships between joy and sorrow, the sun and moon or life and death. I may never know how each work impacts each viewer but I strive to make each work a mirror of the individual viewer's mind.The reflection they see in the work should be unique to each viewer, depending on their various personalities and perspectives.A variety of impressions: from tears, to the poignant pain of love, to the deepest darkness might hopefully be gleamed from my work.Perhaps some viewers will be emotionally touched, stirred deep within their hearts, while others are intellectually stimulated, attempting to contain the work in their minds. But if there's one thought I hope is universally realized while appreciating my work, it's that seemingly opposite polarities are actually both intrinsic necessities for their own mutually cohesive existence.