We the people, have found ourselves at this defining moment, with the grand desire to change the course of our future deciding to be more than we are at present, more than we have been, and challenge the best of ourselves to become something we have only hoped possible.
As one of the many, I use my vision as an artist in an effort to reveal social injustice and suggest a possible alternative by inspiring others to use their voice.
The named style of my work is called, “Sculpted Paintings”. The paintings are an integration of color, light and texture. They are the collaboration, after many years, of combining materials and concept, ideas and technique and finding the subtle flow of message and medium. The fleshed out nuances becoming a living piece of art as a three dimensional image on the two dimentional plane.
In describing your work as sculpted paintings that seduce viewers into exploring new ideas, you touch on a form of sensory deception or illusion. Could you elaborate on how this approach not only challenges but enhances the viewer's perception of reality? How do you balance the tension between illusion and the 'thread of something real' in your work?
My work, which is called, Sculpted Paintings, is the integration of color, light and texture with many surface variations and includes, mixed media.
I use paint and materials to create the illusion that something exists that the viewer perceives, suggested by my images but goes beyond the image. By choosing iconic images such as a flag, a heart, stars, and abstract landscapes it creates something real and the use of texture, colors and sculpted materials create the illusion that frees the viewer to explore more profound perceptions.
Your process involves capturing the essence of a moment—how do you decide which elements of that moment are crucial to convey in your artwork? Is there a particular experience or piece that you found particularly challenging to encapsulate, and how did you overcome that challenge?
You begin the work, the work evolves, and in that evolutionally process a story begins to take shape. This story has a life of its own and begins to write itself. The magical “moment” is the spark that comes spontaneously to the artist. This is often expressed when a person says, “the light bulb went on”.
Moving to New Mexico notably influenced your art style and led to the evolution of your unique sculpted paintings. How do environmental and cultural contexts shape the methods and materials you choose? Do you believe an artist's surroundings are reflected implicitly or explicitly in their work?
Sculpted Paintings were initially conceived while I was an art student at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. After moving to New Mexico this style was enhanced and influenced in a profound way. And of course, New Mexico affected both my color palette and my content. New Mexico and Santa Fe have long attracted and influenced both writers and artists. By way of example Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings changed dramatically when she left New York and the East for New Mexico. Being surrounded daily by great distances and vistas as well as the rich colors of the high desert you find these influences seeping into your perceptions and your very being.
