Artist Statement

As early as I can recall, I have used my art as a way of visually speaking about significant personal experiences. Whether detailing the emotional aspects of a specific relationship or situation, my paintings have provided an ideal way to voice these very private recollections in a discreet way.

As I strive to become more agile and transparent in this endeavor, I have been selecting text associated with the original experience to insert into my work. These words, pulled from personal notes, e-mails, journals and even literature, are made visible in my art through a number of ways such as silk screen, collage or even simply handwritten on the surface. In turn, these areas of my paintings can be literally read just as one can figuratively read and react to color and brushwork.

As this textual aspect of my art has developed into more of a focus, I intentionally obfuscate parts of these words to hopefully draw the viewer into the work; not only to make sense of these seemingly obscure passages but also to have them open up about themselves while exploring and interpreting the art.

I credit the painters, Howard Hodgkin, Louise Nevelson, Gerhard Richter, Sean Scully, Antoni Tapies and Cy Twombly as being inspirational to my work as an artist.

And of course, I must include, Jim Couper, my undergraduate painting professor at Florida International University as having a tremendous influence on my life as a painter. As a young student joining his FIU sponsored trips to New York City where we toured the private studios of his artist acquaintances as well as the galleries and museums, it revealed a world and potential future I would not have known possible without his guidance.