I am a Contemporary Realist painter. Contemporary Realism
is diverse and wide-ranging. It is more than narrative, encompasses fantasy, reality and psychology, and is grounded in a thorough understanding of abstraction and contemporary concepts of picture space.
The aesthetic content of my work is a result of intense visual study, looking into and through nature. Various themes are expressed through the multi-layers of meaning achieved with composition, in the handling of paint, and the manipulation of space, atmosphere and light. My work is neither formalistic nor purely naturalistic, but a delicate balance of both abstraction and reality. What is expressed, if it is to have meaning is achieved through abstraction. What is felt, what I see visually and emotionally comes from life around me.
For a painter, images come in continuously. For me, it is in the process of drawing that they become tangible. The initial abstract essence of a subject makes a strong enough impression on me to want to get into it, analyze, draw and compose. Everything in my work begins with drawing and design. Drawing reveals the reality and the formal abstract structure of visual inspirations, impressions and observations. Drawing both from life and conceptually is where the visual thinking occurs.
All my work emanates from day to day life experiences. Each and every little moment is unique and precious. In painting, I am absorbed with what I see, feel and experience. I try to achieve space and air in my compositions. It is essential for me to think abstractly when designing my pictures and to think with paint during the painting process. Landscape space, still life, interior space and the figure are my subjects. The natural world, what is tangible and visible becomes the window into the unseen, the spiritual, the psychological and the ontological. The fleeting moments of life around me become a vehicle for the expression of symbolic and poetical concepts.
An awareness of the Divine presence in creation permeates all of my work.
The series of recent paintings are about Places, inside and outside. Much of the work is focused on Deerfield Massachusetts and Italy, in both landscape subjects and still life/interior compositions. September Morning and Deerfield River Morning are outside, near the Deerfield River. A new series began while teaching in Cortona, Italy 09 continue the (outside) landscape theme. Interior and still life compositions are drawn from inside the house in Deerfield and set-ups I put together in my present studio. Paintings like October Morning and April Morning are inside places in Deerfield. The paintings Villa in Umbria, Tuscany, Spring 2009 and Umbrian Interior is about ongoing reflections of Italy.
My recent work explores in various ways a theme about the re-birth of life. The simple act of waking up in the morning, each breath we take is a gift from God and each day begins in awesome expectation. Deerfield, Massachusetts and Italy are places, inside and outside, but emotions sparked by these places provide a powerful impetus behind much of my recent work.