Artist Statment

My work challenges the viewer’s understanding of human interaction. I take away the tools of emotional interpretation by removing the subjects' facial cues and dare the viewer to pursue emotional exploration or specific appraisal of personality. The goal of my work is to create conflict through a series of portraits with divided emphasis between posture and eye contact, simultaneously inviting and dismissing interactive engagement. Through posture that refuses to acknowledge or make eye contact with the viewer I vicariously repel the viewer, and deny participation in the work, like a visual form of the silent treatment. In a similar yet opposite way I also confront the viewer through an uncomfortable forced encounter with the subjects' eye contact that deliberately breaches the viewer’s personal space. The two dimensional surface to denies escape until the viewer has left the room.

Rather than assigner of concept, I am a facilitator for meaning. I put the responsibility of extracting significance upon the viewer as challenge to look introspectively and uncover personal meaning. I set the stage, and I control the interaction, but the viewer must finish the work and add the content. I provide only enough information for the viewer to fill in the gaps and create their own meaning or story. Other than my personal interpretation of the subject, my paintings do not themselves contain a particular idea, but are instead designed to promote individual application. Thus the viewer is able to see both what I see and what I don’t see.

The only accurate interpretation of my work is a personal one. That a certain pose, composition, or lighting causes a person to feel any particular way about my work reveals that individual’s unique perspective, biases, and distortions of perception that change only the observation of the work. During this process the painting itself remains unchanged and individually significant to someone else. I press the viewer to internalize their understanding of human connection and learn something new about the way they view the world that they may discover more about themselves than the work.

Painting and Photography

Painting and drawing visually have much in common. The principles of art that make good photography also apply to good painting. Both are two dimensional representations of a visual idea. But the difference between the two goes beyond visual presentation. Both photography and painting require intense study and keen awareness; the difference is in the process and creation of the image. Photography is instantaneous. There is very little time or need to examine the subject beyond the recognition of composition. It is an immediate reaction that stops when the shutter closes. Painting takes a lot of time to create the final image and requires intense concentration. Painting is not necessarily better than photography, but the value for me in a painting over a photograph is in the meditation of the artist who carefully decided the placement and character of each brush stroke. Every stroke is a separate perception and attempt at understanding the subject.

I recognize the importance of time and meditation in my work, but some painters try to cut the amount of time it takes to complete a painting by projecting a photograph onto a canvas instead of drawing by hand. I understand why someone would want to take this shortcut since it provides a perfect representation without having to actually understand reality, perspective, proportion, or anatomy. While it is possible to make a nice painting from a projected image, I think this type of art is much less interesting, and the painting often feels lifeless. I also believe this shortcut is dishonest if left undisclosed since the viewer assumes that an accurate drawing is the result of intense study. Artists who take this shortcut cheapen the value of the painting process, and assume that accuracy in representation is the end goal. But if accuracy is the goal, painting has no chance against photography since even the worst photographer can capture a more accurate representation of reality than the best painter.