Artist Statement
Seasoned with a well-lived life, my abnormal childhood, unusual background, and a willingness to examine tough (often taboo) issues, I offer a fresh socio-political portrayal of our culture and an intimate entry point into the human psyche. Since I was a small child sitting at my family’s dinner table, I have been acutely aware of the dynamics at play in our interpersonal relationships. In fact, I have always been fascinated by the human condition. Ethnographic-based, my work broadens the intimate experience of home and family to the larger community. By weaving colours, objects, and words, I construct narratives within my art, examining the cultural issues faced by contemporary society.
I am not young and, accordingly, my work is aptly aged with decades of unique experiences born out of a willingness to push the boundaries and choose beyond the norms of convention. Art is my life’s work and fundamental to how I communicate with my world. Everything (whether it was my film work, that with survivors of childhood trauma, or my writing) has delivered me to this place where art is my focus. I know that it, as a vehicle for social change, has a responsibility to embrace the power it wields and deliver its message honourably and authentically. Consequently, my art is an unflinching investigation into the human condition: good or bad; beautiful or ugly. The work created out of this research engages the viewer in critical discourses (sometimes private: sometimes public) on topics such as children of drug addicts, dissociative identities, and what signifies “home" while refusing to exploit all-too-easy forms of sensationalism. Like me, my patrons are also, most often, individuals who work for and support social change.
I work primarily in two mediums: oil on canvas and mixed media assemblage. At first glance, one might construe my range of mediums as an inconsistency until you become familiar with my subject matter. For me, the message conveyed is always more important than the medium employed. I have also worked in sculpture, collage (digital and manual), and mixed media. My drawings are usually rendered realistically although I love the immediacy and line only afforded with contour. In painting, visually I am also interested in the use colour and several years back abandoned the white canvas for black. Not only does this enhance colour, but I am able to mirror in paint how our eyes and brains see, interpret, and recognize objects. How light reflects off objects indicates whether or it has a polished or rough surface. How light hugs the side of objects reveals its shape. And, light lets us know how close or far an object is depending on the degree of contrast between light and dark. In my work, it is this painting of light that brings an object to life.
I am not young and, accordingly, my work is aptly aged with decades of unique experiences born out of a willingness to push the boundaries and choose beyond the norms of convention. Art is my life’s work and fundamental to how I communicate with my world. Everything (whether it was my film work, that with survivors of childhood trauma, or my writing) has delivered me to this place where art is my focus. I know that it, as a vehicle for social change, has a responsibility to embrace the power it wields and deliver its message honourably and authentically. Consequently, my art is an unflinching investigation into the human condition: good or bad; beautiful or ugly. The work created out of this research engages the viewer in critical discourses (sometimes private: sometimes public) on topics such as children of drug addicts, dissociative identities, and what signifies “home" while refusing to exploit all-too-easy forms of sensationalism. Like me, my patrons are also, most often, individuals who work for and support social change.
I work primarily in two mediums: oil on canvas and mixed media assemblage. At first glance, one might construe my range of mediums as an inconsistency until you become familiar with my subject matter. For me, the message conveyed is always more important than the medium employed. I have also worked in sculpture, collage (digital and manual), and mixed media. My drawings are usually rendered realistically although I love the immediacy and line only afforded with contour. In painting, visually I am also interested in the use colour and several years back abandoned the white canvas for black. Not only does this enhance colour, but I am able to mirror in paint how our eyes and brains see, interpret, and recognize objects. How light reflects off objects indicates whether or it has a polished or rough surface. How light hugs the side of objects reveals its shape. And, light lets us know how close or far an object is depending on the degree of contrast between light and dark. In my work, it is this painting of light that brings an object to life.
