Artist Statement
There’s something about elements in nature that are always surprisingly abstract to me. I’m interested in shapes in nature as they relate to abstraction in painting. In my work I investigate the curious, rich area of visual potential these shapes exist in. I question how we interpret what we see in terms of abstraction whether it is by chance or intentionally looking at a work of art.
I collect distinctly different representations of abstraction of nature: prints, books, photographs and more. I make drawings and collages from these source materials. They become cut and paste blueprints from which I build my surface layers on the picture plane.
Concealing and revealing in my work is an important form of visual play. I play with the back and forth between what is print, what is paint and what is just negative space. Collage is a form of sampling but for me it’s what’s in between those samples, which is just as exciting. My selection process of shapes, images and paint is based in poetic responses on how I respond to formal elements – it is in that act that I find profound meaning.