Statement
In the last several years I have been painting large scale, non-traditional, realistic still life in oil on canvas. In this work I have been interested in evoking the is-ness of things, the simplicity of things as they are in their particularity. I have been drawn to details, to roundness and volume, to aliveness, luminosity, stillness and clarity. In these paintings, the objects have expanded beyond the edges of the canvas. This up-closeness creates a sense of immediacy, intimacy and participation, a sense of being here, in the moment, without reservation.
I then continued further in this direction by moving in even closer to the object, and in particular, to the onion. I have been working on paintings of onions where I have focused on one section of the exterior of the onion and magnified it so that one no longer sees the outline of the onion. In doing so the paintings have become more abstract. Moving closer, I have discovered another world of image and composition and design. A crack in the skin, or the lines of veins, or a sudden emerging of color below the skin begin to suggest different layers of meaning. To the viewer it becomes less clear what it is that one is seeing and invites a different kind of looking. It takes one beyond the familiar, beyond the limits of our ordinary way of knowing things and into more imagination. An interplay begins to happen between the microcosm and the macrocosm -- as I move into smaller and smaller sections, the images expand out into greater and greater spaces.
I then explored a new direction while continuing to be interested in space, luminosity and aliveness. I worked on canvases where I created a raised, rough white surface which surrounds an embedded iridescent shape. One might associate these shapes to rivers, or pathways, stems, or bones, all of which are vessels of movement, life force or vital energy. Moving closer and closer to the object has now taken the work beneath the surface and into an interiority of aliveness. No longer viewing the object (one manifestation of a life form) from the outside, this new work explores the inner movement of the life force itself, the vital energy that underlies manifestation. The outside appearance is no longer the referent for the work, but rather, the referent has become an intuitive awareness of inner aliveness.
The monoprints represent a new adventure for me. After years of very careful and controlled painting, I am enjoying the spontaneity and somewhat unpredictability of monoprints. Tree trunks are old friends and I am pleased to revisit them.
