My Statement of Design/Artistic Philosophy
"Art is not a study of
positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth." George Sand (1804-76), French
novelist. Artists are seekers
of beauty and truth. They are on
earth to see what others do not, to pay close attention to the details of
beauty in everything, from animate to inanimate objects, from plants to animals
to humans to landscapes and to life.
They see it. They paint it. They draw it. They sculpt it. It is, perhaps, one of the most important jobs on the
planet. Artists document events and history, people and places, and their own experiences. Artistic ability, in its highest
form, is a rare and precious gift, something to be nurtured and
celebrated. I celebrate every
minute I am able to spend in my studio. I nurtured my students' abilities and progression during the time I spent in the classroom. Both as a student, and as a
teacher, I have pursued the path of an artist. This is the gift. Ideally, it is a well-used gift.
My personal philosophy is based on the Renaissance ideal that knowledge, integrity, respect and the use of intellect and imagination on a higher plane are those qualities to which humans should strive for and maintain as truth. The Renaissance Ideal, “fundamentally, from the philosophical point of view, meant naturalism, in other words, the study of man and the universe without the use of metaphysics. Man is the center and measure of all things, a chosen creator who echoes the deep harmony between the microcosm and the macrocosm.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.
My personal work has been derived from things which I have some emotional reaction or attachment to, things which evoke an immediate feeling of some kind. Though some attachments or reactions are deeper than others, I cannot deny that I am drawn to the subjects. I can paint or draw anything, but I don’t want to just paint or draw anything. I choose my subjects carefully. Most often, they are images of people, figurative paintings or drawings of distinct interest to me. I approach a drawing or a canvas with an emotional intensity about the subject. However; I set myself up as an observer, because Art is drawn from experience and observation of environment. My approach as an observer offers two points of view for the viewer: participant and voyeur. I place great importance on the connections my viewers might make, in the sense that I want my work to be accessible and understood on some level by the average person. I also incorporate personal imagery and emotion because I want to identify my own connection to the work as well.
My recent works are a compilation of memories, dreams, and past and present realities. All figurative, they stand as two separate bodies of work. The first is based on personal dream imagery combined with real life experiences. These read as self-portraits at times. Here figures exist in spaces, real and imagined, and various elements of the foregrounds or backgrounds relate to the figures. The second body of work is based on old black and white photographs, painted to read as photographs, but with invented color. The figures are certainly posed, but it is their expressions and the significance of the relationship of the figures to the spaces around them that links this body of work to my more personal series.
In all of my work, there is evidence of an appreciation for both the Post-Impressionists and the German Expressionists. The color is bright and often “moody” and it is also sensitive to light and temperature. It is painterly and controlled. The subject matter is always figurative which automatically creates a relationship between the images and the viewer, whether it is direct or voyeuristic. The larger canvases house many figures usually in sets of three distinct, though not necessarily obvious divisions of space. There is correlation between the figures; and yet, they are separate. The smaller canvases exist in more confined spaces operating as single, unified areas, even if more than one figure is represented.
Size has also been a concern in the creation of each series. My brush strokes have a certain energy and motion which allow for a great deal of expression, but these strokes also define the use of space as they are not so controlled that they could exist on a very small surface. The dream imagery seems to demand larger canvases as the paintings are a synergy of parts of various dreams and narrating the imagery requires an expansive space. The portrait pieces draw the viewer in and are usually central in their spaces. Painted on much smaller canvases or boards than the dream series, they are still relatively large as compared to some portraiture.
In the end, art is not measured by success, but by dedication to the process. It is a study of the ever-changing worlds in which we all live and dream. It is the noble task of documenting moments along the way with two or three-dimensional visual products, and the hope that someone will appreciate the effort, that drives my creative process.
My personal philosophy is based on the Renaissance ideal that knowledge, integrity, respect and the use of intellect and imagination on a higher plane are those qualities to which humans should strive for and maintain as truth. The Renaissance Ideal, “fundamentally, from the philosophical point of view, meant naturalism, in other words, the study of man and the universe without the use of metaphysics. Man is the center and measure of all things, a chosen creator who echoes the deep harmony between the microcosm and the macrocosm.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.
My personal work has been derived from things which I have some emotional reaction or attachment to, things which evoke an immediate feeling of some kind. Though some attachments or reactions are deeper than others, I cannot deny that I am drawn to the subjects. I can paint or draw anything, but I don’t want to just paint or draw anything. I choose my subjects carefully. Most often, they are images of people, figurative paintings or drawings of distinct interest to me. I approach a drawing or a canvas with an emotional intensity about the subject. However; I set myself up as an observer, because Art is drawn from experience and observation of environment. My approach as an observer offers two points of view for the viewer: participant and voyeur. I place great importance on the connections my viewers might make, in the sense that I want my work to be accessible and understood on some level by the average person. I also incorporate personal imagery and emotion because I want to identify my own connection to the work as well.
My recent works are a compilation of memories, dreams, and past and present realities. All figurative, they stand as two separate bodies of work. The first is based on personal dream imagery combined with real life experiences. These read as self-portraits at times. Here figures exist in spaces, real and imagined, and various elements of the foregrounds or backgrounds relate to the figures. The second body of work is based on old black and white photographs, painted to read as photographs, but with invented color. The figures are certainly posed, but it is their expressions and the significance of the relationship of the figures to the spaces around them that links this body of work to my more personal series.
In all of my work, there is evidence of an appreciation for both the Post-Impressionists and the German Expressionists. The color is bright and often “moody” and it is also sensitive to light and temperature. It is painterly and controlled. The subject matter is always figurative which automatically creates a relationship between the images and the viewer, whether it is direct or voyeuristic. The larger canvases house many figures usually in sets of three distinct, though not necessarily obvious divisions of space. There is correlation between the figures; and yet, they are separate. The smaller canvases exist in more confined spaces operating as single, unified areas, even if more than one figure is represented.
Size has also been a concern in the creation of each series. My brush strokes have a certain energy and motion which allow for a great deal of expression, but these strokes also define the use of space as they are not so controlled that they could exist on a very small surface. The dream imagery seems to demand larger canvases as the paintings are a synergy of parts of various dreams and narrating the imagery requires an expansive space. The portrait pieces draw the viewer in and are usually central in their spaces. Painted on much smaller canvases or boards than the dream series, they are still relatively large as compared to some portraiture.
In the end, art is not measured by success, but by dedication to the process. It is a study of the ever-changing worlds in which we all live and dream. It is the noble task of documenting moments along the way with two or three-dimensional visual products, and the hope that someone will appreciate the effort, that drives my creative process.