Artist Statement
I am an artist who thrives on exploring many mediums. Among my mediums of preference are oils, watercolor, clay, bronze, charcoal, soft pastel, copper wire, matches and recently painting with colored shoe polish or cream. I have works that are, by virtue of their medium unique to my oeuvre. Fire drawings as I call them, are portraits created almost exclusively using matches. Like apparitions, the portrait appears within the flow. I am always surprised by the marks that matches make. I enjoy the unexpected lines and forms created by the burn and the soot. I am always trying new material to burn looking for different variations of color and suffusion. Or maybe it’s just the small boy in me that likes to play with fire! My copper wire sculptures are in essence three dimensional drawings. My figurative sculptures evoke Renaissance strength with a contemporary feel. Each piece of copper wire is an individual dimensional line. Each individual line an abstract expression, together the lines become the form. Each wire connection is hand wound using smaller gauge wire creating an individual mark. These marks are a metaphor for our wounds and pleasures, our victories and defeats. Time is represented by the suggestion that there is no beginning and there is no end. Like apparitions, the form appears within the flow. I consider my work to be Renaissance-contemporary born out of my passion for, and study of, the Renaissance masters. Renaissance influence can be seen in my drawn and sculptural works, it is visible in my line, mark making and my sense of aesthetic for the human figure.
I have always had a passion for drawing. A simple mark is the portrayal of what you see as interpreted by your heart. Mark making is a personal identifier. Emotional, sensitive and sensual mark making is a distinguishing character of my figurative work. Sensitive, bold, graceful or fluid, marks are an expression of the person you are, how you see and what you feel. A mark, immediate and unblemished by rational thought is a raw and powerful expression of ‘self.’ The energy of my mark making has crossed the boundaries of medium and dimension and is present in all my work.
I am a great believer and champion of, the gift and the power of creativity. “Engaging your creative self is essential to being human”. The gift of creativity does not reside within the works you create, it resides within you so that you may discover the truth and nature of ‘Self’.