I see my work as having three aspects, and one overall idea. First, different images and materials in one piece cause the viewer to shift between different ways of seeing or believing. For example, we see illusionistic space in a painting, but tactile reality in fabric. The paintings open onto different distances: intimate or far away, personal or generalized, normal or sacred. Materials range from textures you want to touch to parts rather gross to look at, from genuine to fake. This shifting quality keeps the viewer in a flexible, interested mode natural to Soul.
Second, my work operates in the tradition of the "special object" – things people come to with a sacred feeling: altarpieces, small careful paintings on wood, velvet, moody lighting, sparkly things, vast untouched landscapes. In modern times artwork itself serves as a special object because of the care and thought put into it. I never want to let the viewer down when he is looking for a special object, because he is trying to confirm the value of Soul, the individual.
Third, the format of the work itself completes a metaphorical story about the inside or outside of the self: exposed or obscured, empty or full, explored or unexplored.
Ideally, and overall, I want my work to offer support to the self, so that in an uncertain world Soul is allowed room.
I believe art, at its best, communicates directly to the individual, one to one, in quiet time and over lengths of time. I'm not so interested in matters of discussion between people.
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