Elements that are concealed by society are revealed in art. With this idea I try to make work that evokes mental associations, memories, and thoughts that influence the flow of mental images in a human being. On my surfaces the world is reflected and projected in a confusing variety and in several layers. Our day-to-day experiences are distorted beyond recognition, but in such a way that we can now understand them more clearly. Looking at my paintings becomes a sensory adventure of discovery that started when I began to paint it and continues with the act of viewing it. Every image and symbol is fluid and interlinked, with only very few fixed lines or contours that might lend support. The viewer is confronted with images that are as fleeting and intangible as a dream. The images themselves freely are juxtaposed or layered with higher themes. My work scrutinizes the tension between high and low culture. Both exist withtin the same space. Such close proximity provokes confrontations between the two vocabularies, as well as revealing the inroads each has made in the other’s territory.

I hope to never succumb to the temptations of a signature style. My work does evolve through the various techniques of my paint handling and solidifies into a unified whole of color and pattern. Thick lines of paint are applied over textured grounds of built up pigment as images traced by my brush trip and stagger like someone trying to make their way through busy city streets.

The current series of paintings explores the viewer’s perception of postmodernism, appropriation, gender, and belonging. This is dealt with spatial ambiguity and impasto paint handling as a metaphor. Each lush canvas reveals layer upon layer of symbols that interact with each other as they are slowly revealed from the highly textured surfaces. The recurring skull represents everyman just as in the medieval morality plays and thus the stage is set for acts of temptation, ruin, and redemption. These themes are also very prevalent in the carnival and traveling sideshow.

My interest in the carnival and its side show attractions stems from my childhood of growing up across from the county fairground. The carnival, like the circus, came to my small town and with it came strange and exciting sights. I was interested in the lights of the exhibits and the strange tattooed people that manned the spectacles and the games of chance.

These formative images manifested themselves later in my paintings as I seek to revisit this traveling amusement from my childhood. Through relentless experimentation within each painting, I confront these issues, but I also expand these performances for the benfit of an audience.

Thank you for visiting my site!