Artist Statement
My process of creation is layered: Layers of chance in searching out and collecting images, natural and found materials; layers of color and pattern laid down in seeds, or oil and alkyd paint; layers of wax with objects and photographs partially embedded into them. The work is inherently tied to modernism, in its juxtaposition of new and old methods and materials, to location, in the finding of an object and my interaction with the place of finding it, and to time, in the presentation of the particular.
By placing found objects within the context of painting, I am able to re-invent and re-interpret time and place as I create new meaning. Many of the objects, images, and the environments that interest me mark the boundary between being so common that they are forgotten and being iconic relics of the past. My work shifts our focus back and forth from the everyday to an unknown history, in a coalescence of time, place, and chance that are re-contextualized into a whole.
For a number of years wax mediums and varnishes have played a central role in my art. On the one hand, wax is a sealant and preservative, literally stopping the flow of change through time. On the other, it literally and metaphorically clouds our vision, limiting our perception and altering our understanding of time passing. One of the challenges of using wax as a structural form is that it introduces an unpredictable element that remains always on the edge my control. While wax has been used in painting for 2000 years, I cannot predict precisely how the wax will solidify. This constant play of chance is another layer layer in the serendipity of finding the objects and images I use. Most recently I have been exploring the possibilities of acrylic emulsions as an alternative to wax based materials.