The American painter Edward Hopper once said, “if I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” I would not disagree with that sentiment in the least, and yet here I am, paradoxically attempting to describe my work. Still, though, maybe it’s useful to understand that often the way we communicate with images and how we communicate with language are very different from each other.
For me, the creation of an image, from start to finish, flows best when I disengage from the world of words. The communication through images is deep, multilayered, and complex. It draws upon a vast experience, much of which I am not conscious of. It incites emotion through the evocation of shared experience, while at the same time reminding us that no two human experiences can ever be identical.
I think effective art often disturbs, disquiets, and brings up more questions than answers. It never tells the whole story, but leaves blanks for the viewer to fill. In this way, as long as it has an audience, it is vital, alive, and even ironically speaks (with and without words). Any and every response to a piece of art is valid, for it is part of the work of art itself.
The subject matter I choose is largely the everyday world in which I live. I don’t believe (if I believe anything) that I need to seek meaning, for the seeking itself IS the meaning. It is in the simple observation of the ordinary places and objects around me that I look to reveal hidden beauty, even in places and things that might most often be looked down upon or rejected. I’m not going to go too deeply into what is the motivation behind my obsessive drive to engage with my world in this way, but will only say that I have found great comfort in embracing my own “otherness” through this process.