Artist's Statement

The interrelationship between all art forms and media is a fundamental concept underlying all of my work. Painting, architecture, photography, film, writing and music all draw from the same well of "Zeitgeist" (the force about the collective subconscious) using the intuitive personal unconscious as a ladle. Through the universal language of pattern formation, art finds expression for my unconscious experiences most truthfully in painting.

The physical process deals with the sculpting of layers. I start layering colors for the base, then erode that surface (by sanding or rubbing and manipulating with hands or brush) until I start to see possible forms. I then realize those hallucinated forms with the careful manipulation of oils. It's much like sculpting in that I believe that I am freeing a form which is already there. It is a form of erosion, and therefore addresses issues of time. What nature does to corroding man-made metals in a number of years, I do in a matter of months or weeks.

While painting I am able to maintain a closer connection with the subconscious because of my process, which is mostly intuitive. In Cynical Animist I describe some of the dynamics behind my painting: "This painting is a metascope, showing the direction of our next level of consciousness and visual perception. The whole captures the attention, invites scrutiny. Each shape twists the mind's emotive coil, slipping it further into complexity. Then it goes beyond what was created by hand by becoming a bridge to what we still cannot fully see. It becomes a bridge through the force of its subconscious intent. This force pulls the twisting coil tighter and tighter. Actually becoming thinner until it is imperceivable. It can be a bridge because the point of imperception is not a true break, but a lack of acuity on the part of consciousness, much like a visual impairment."

By mixing emotively symbolic forms and this intuitive painting process I am able to invite the spectator into a mental landscape where the oppositions of feeling and thought mingle. In fact, all oppositions (historical, mythological, metaphysical and visual) are forced into playfully ambiguous relationships.