Artist Statement

 

In working on my latest body of work, I have pulled inspiration not only from landscape images and paintings (both abstract and representational), but also from artists such as Beatriz Milhazes, Arturo Herrera, and Suzanne McClelland.  Their imagery and bold use of color and form encouraged me to develop my own ways of creating and incorporating color and stencil into my work.  I took the idea of stenciling to a new level and began shaping and cutting my panels to reinforce the organic and structural forms within my paintings.  I turned otherwise rectangular boards into arabesques echoing organic forms found in nature.  Together, my paintings serve as landscapes, representing the natural world as well as the man-made environment.

This body of work highlights the communication issues present in my life and within our society: we are constantly inundated with information, receiving ideas from the media, from our family and friends, our communities, etc.  What I find interesting is the way in which this information is filtered.  Much of what I believe and value is a direct result of my family and my social environment.  To an extent, they determine what I see, learn, and experience. 

My painting method reflects my ideas about communication and transfer of information.  I start my process with wooden panels and pour a series of liquefied acrylic layers onto the surface.  At various stages throughout the development of the painting, I sand the surface of the panel, revealing portions of previous days’ work.  While this process is somewhat random and accidental, I do take time to manipulate areas of my paintings that I am dissatisfied with or where I see potential.  Just as in our lives, the information in my paintings is filtered.  I fill the panels with various layers, colors, and designs, but in the end only particular images show through.  I act as a filter, determining what information translates to my viewers.