“To talk about painting is not only difficult but perhaps pointless too. You can only express in words what words are capable of expressing — what language can communicate. Painting has nothing to do with that. Painting is another form of thinking.” 

-Gerhard Richter

Artist Statement:

My goal as a painter is to transfer my energy into something visual. Everything I see and feel in life filters through me and becomes a visual expression of my subconscious. Art has its own language and the way I understand it is with feeling and intuition, not thoughts and words. I choose to not prescribe meaning to my paintings. The titles may give a hint towards my interpretation, but each viewer has a unique history that will be projected upon my work. I enjoy hearing what people see in my paintings because it’s rarely anything I intended.

At its best, art is a controlled accident. The same is true of our daily lives. Accidental and spontaneous elements bring excitement to a painting, but they need to be guided and corrected in order to achieve balance. Likewise, serendipity brings moments of unexpected joy in life, but without some planning, it would be chaotic. When we are open to the unexpected, when we find beauty in places not sought out, we experience the pleasure of surprise. Life and creativity flow in waves. There are hard times and good, and each accentuates the other. In order to fully appreciate the heights of  beauty and joy, we must suffer through ugliness and despair. 

While I’m painting, there are moments of highs and lows. There’s the initial excitement of beginning something new. This leads to frustration when it becomes clear the painting will not go as planned. I begin to look for a new path, and put more layers onto the canvas. Each layer is a response to the one below, hopefully a correction. I often let the layers show through as the evidence of this struggle to create. Each painting slowly comes into focus until there are no more corrections to be made. The moment I realize a painting is complete brings an incredible feeling of accomplishment. But this is short lived. It gets set aside and I ride the wave of the next piece.