Artist Statement

Art, for me, has always been an escape. Whether I’m viewing or creating, art allows me a moment to step away from the stresses of everyday life; it allows me to be submerged in a moment of still bliss and reflection. By carefully choosing my palette the tools I use to apply paint and my materials, my goal is to produce work that accurately represents all of the subconscious emotions that are otherwise nearly impossible for me to decipher. Although there is a portion of premeditative planning involved, the majority of my process is organic. By letting my hand, the medium, and my subconscious flow as one entity, I try to breathe life into my artwork. When I am able to properly premeditate and come up with a rough, ambiguous plan for a piece, I’m able to further inject myself and properly represent my emotions. All of my abstract work is done flat so that gravity doesn’t become an uncontrolled variable. Although much of my linear work may appear to be drips, they are not. I am able to create this organic linear affect using a combination of palette knives and hard work. With the exception of select circumstances, I create using only sea sponges, palette knives, and other alternate application method. Again, this allows me to become more gracefully intertwined with each piece I create and beautifully execute my ideas.

When becoming close with a painting, it all begins, for me, with custom stretching my own canvas. Using my past professional experience and training, I began building frames and stretching canvas for myself shortly after first taking an interest in painting. Stretching canvas means so much to me that the cut in cost is one of many perks that come with learning the craft. It is a vigorous and cathartic procedure that forms the relationship between myself and my paintings, that I find essential in my artistic process. I am given a premeditative period of time in which I can communicate, in a sense, with my materials before putting down the first drop of paint.

Although I have separated my body of work into four different categories or series’ (Landscapes, Windows, Experimental, Photography) the main theme remains the same. That theme is transference. A transference of emotion, energy and, perhaps most importantly, experiences. My artwork offers an interactive experience for the viewer, full of vigorous color, deep feeling, tempting textures

and a small view into my imagination. My artwork feels as if it’s alive and breathing because each piece offers a new experience, a new escape, each time they’re viewed. By doing so I create beautiful pieces of Fine Art that can be experienced and enjoyed for generations to come.

My influences are quite different yet they all have one thing in common, and that is how strongly and deeply their artwork impacted and resonated with the world around them. My strong use of linear structure was influenced by Jackson Pollock. My use of color blending in order to evoke strong emotion, is influenced by Mark Rothko. My use of tone, subject, light and composition, within my photography, was influenced by Gordon Parks and Danny Lyon, and my of strong colors as a way of expression was influenced by Vincent Van Gogh. All of these artist lived in different times and worked with different mediums, but all had such a grand impact on the world around them, using only their artistic voice. One viewer at a time, I plan to have an impact on the world around me.