A New Paradigm:  Artist's Statement

In 1993 I started writing a novel called The Third Testament inspired by the writings of Joseph Campbell and my experiences living in Washington, D.C. There, causes of all kinds presented themselves as spiritual in nature, comparable in feeling to an all-American United Nations. I would see marches on the mall, parades, addresses and gatherings of all sorts and felt there was an equality and fairness to this that was quite inspiring. I also felt the rising influence of Fundamentalism and felt compelled somehow to make religion itself the focus of my artwork rather than the intellectual, moralizing paintings I'd done in the past. It wasn't until 1999 though that I finished the writing and considered representing it in pictures. I was in for a surprise.

At first I expected to make religious art that looked like Medieval art, just with its symbols and meanings updated to fit my ideas. I didn’t think that very quickly I would start to respond extremely emotionally to the work I was doing. Instead of depicting my themes directly I started reacting against them and reinterpreting them from every point of view just as art history has always done. I started painting big, bold and vibrantly. I rapidly developed a style that drew on many aspects of Modern art- use of the grid, Divisionist color, expressive brushwork- but infused them with referential content using them to “prove” its veracity. The novel became a vehicle for painting all kinds of ordinary feelings sometimes positive, sometimes negative. Often the paintings had nothing to do with the novel, but became connected to it by inference.

During the time I worked on these paintings, my range and options changed. I eventually combined the stylized work with Realist images. I continued to explore my own personal psychology, and I became adept at making abstract statements of all kinds. This process took me through close to 20 major works. Eventually I came to a point where I started feeling the scales tipping back towards a preference for Realism. I started seeing the stylized work as a place, “there,” and the realism as “here,” a place everyone can recognize. This realization hit me with a natural logic and inspired me with a whole variety of new ideas. It also changed the way I looked at art in general.

Now I see all art as being about transformation and change, identity and transcendence. There are no ideas that lie outside simple poetry, sensation and sense. I want to expand into my art as seamlessly as I breathe and move in the world. The work I’ve done represents a complete circle of psychological exploration and conscious liberation. The themes I’ve chosen, religious or spiritual, have become changed and modified under my influence. I have deliberately raised issues and concerns that I feel are important to the world, and am determined that they be addressed on their own grounds. As I move into a period of continued refinement and diversification, I hope my paintings to this point stand by themselves as a testament to will, faith and free thinking, and that it brings to others the rewards it has brought to me. As I move on, this will serve as my foundation, and I am hopeful that it will serve well.