artist statement

Each of the works presented here began as a preliminary painting, serving as the raw material for the finished piece. The initial paintings were then cut, and their parts reassembled until a new gravity emerged to bind them in a particular way. To me, this process reflects the constant shifting and re-grouping of the elements of nature, but also represents the drive towards balance between the opposing forces of control and abandon. I approach the original paintings in an uncontrolled way, with as much freedom and openness as I can muster. The subsequent cutting of them often seems to release a palpable energy, and certain fragments reveal inherent qualities previously hidden to me. I enjoy reorganizing these fragments with increasing precision, using them as building blocks to create abstractions which I often feel are essentially landscapes, or water-scapes, or light-scapes. Once I have chopped up a painting, the reassembling of it is like working out a puzzle whose goal is to reach a place of equilibrium and balance, and to evoke a glimpse of the particular mystery I perceive within it.