Artist Statement
The first step in my process is always formal: I become interested in the aesthetic merging of shapes, lines and colors. I begin with a rough outline of a composition, then work to develop details over multiple layers. As my images evolve, the initial composition becomes infused with my emotional and intellectual perspective. Looking at older work, I can recognize the issues that were central to my life at the time it was made.
In 2020 I set out to create a series of paintings that would focus on a single theme, namely the way I imagine my own afterlife. The series is still in progress, but my conception of an afterlife has broadened to include transcendent cognitive experiences in my current life.
In some pieces I try to illustrate the way I conceptualize the dissolution (or absence) of my own ego, a way of imagining my own non-existence. Other pieces explore the way I have experienced visual reality when my ego was too broken to effectively organize my perceptions. And every now and then, I simply explore my life-long interest in nature and the landscape.
There are recurring themes of transcendence, regeneration, decay and ultimate justice throughout my work.
