Artist Statement 2008

As someone who cares about nature and believes in good stewardship, I feel art can speak to those concerns. Art that carries a message can be weighted down or the message can be so interwoven with the structure of the art object that art object and message exist as a suggestive unit. I want my paintings to exist in that space.

There is great concern in the environmental and scientific communities about climate change and the long term, disastrous effects it is having on animal and human habitats. I chose to explore those concerns, even fears, in several ways: through the use of pattern and its disruption, depicting the human figure as captured and suspended in odd poses, and by fracturing the space of the traditional picture plane. It is a window, but now a broken window. Disruption of habitats, disruption of patterns of survival eventually becomes destruction of habitats or patterns. The human figure is central though off balance. Balance is key.