Artist's Statement:
It seems that diversity characterizes my art. I didn't plan it that way but it's what happened. Currently, my most favored art subjects concern human situations and events such as growing problems (e.g., pubescence, child abuse by clergy), aging (e.g., Alzheimer's, social bureaucracy), hypocrisy, portraits of unusual people, and social scenes. There are other artistic excursions into sea life, my New Mexico existence, environmental and earth survival issues, political atrocities and I have maintained for the last 45+ years, an intellectual fascination with Mayan glyphs and culture.
This diversity probably has something to do with my past. I've lived in many different areas of North America, experienced a variety of good and bad circumstances, worked my way through university as a janitor, short-order cook, roofer, drug store clerk, and carpenter and then managed to move through several academic areas beginning with basic neurochemistry of memory mechanisms. I finished my last 25 years assessing children and adults with brain-behavioral disorders. I'm not about to spend much time painting flowers, sunsets, old barns, charming houses or quiet forest paths. I want to bring my collected emotional and cognitive experiences to the viewer, to grab eyeballs and intellect in a very basic way such as playing with colors and forms,( e.g. renditions of Mayan glyphs). Most importantly, I want to create works that tell a story, set a mood, offer a unique perspective, deal with bare socio-political issues or highlight the hypocrisies of society. My goal is to get the viewer more cognitively involved, not to produce paintings that don't offend anyone or appeal because they match wall colours, fit a general décor or look good hanging over the couch.
So be it.
It seems that diversity characterizes my art. I didn't plan it that way but it's what happened. Currently, my most favored art subjects concern human situations and events such as growing problems (e.g., pubescence, child abuse by clergy), aging (e.g., Alzheimer's, social bureaucracy), hypocrisy, portraits of unusual people, and social scenes. There are other artistic excursions into sea life, my New Mexico existence, environmental and earth survival issues, political atrocities and I have maintained for the last 45+ years, an intellectual fascination with Mayan glyphs and culture.
This diversity probably has something to do with my past. I've lived in many different areas of North America, experienced a variety of good and bad circumstances, worked my way through university as a janitor, short-order cook, roofer, drug store clerk, and carpenter and then managed to move through several academic areas beginning with basic neurochemistry of memory mechanisms. I finished my last 25 years assessing children and adults with brain-behavioral disorders. I'm not about to spend much time painting flowers, sunsets, old barns, charming houses or quiet forest paths. I want to bring my collected emotional and cognitive experiences to the viewer, to grab eyeballs and intellect in a very basic way such as playing with colors and forms,( e.g. renditions of Mayan glyphs). Most importantly, I want to create works that tell a story, set a mood, offer a unique perspective, deal with bare socio-political issues or highlight the hypocrisies of society. My goal is to get the viewer more cognitively involved, not to produce paintings that don't offend anyone or appeal because they match wall colours, fit a general décor or look good hanging over the couch.
So be it.
