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My work is a series of statements that portray the role of chaotic events in frames of situations, narratives, or concepts as abstracted/embellished texture, line, shape, or color. This is executed in paint, installation, or mixed media sculpture, in abstraction, conceptualization, or direct representation. Currently my two active bodies of work fall within the media of oil painting and interior latex on canvas.

Generally my inspiration for making art is the dis-ease coveted by individual people as trust in a belief system and therefore distrust of outsiders, differences, or the unknown. I depict this in several ways; abstractly as an energetic field of spirals superimposed on a uniform structure, as lines and colors on a field whose shapes the viewer may or may not identify, or as contained within a body, isolated in its environment with its energetic dynamic. Inspiration in the distrust of people and the quick distancing of the values of others is derived from my conviction that no matter what a person thinks, all that has been, still is, and ever was. With such, observation of belief systems that discount people, whole cultures, or events, ultimately lands on observation of coveted limits, and sometimes outright war for those limits.

After coming to New Mexico in April 2008, I was able to root my perspective in the profound seeming permanence of the landscape around Albuquerque.  Major plate shifts of the earth, juxtaposed with ancient volcanoes, earthen scars where once bled the core of this planet, being called home by various groups of people throughout recorded history, and yet without any belief structure of its own, and despite 80 degree sways in temperature annually, (which of course, relative to human existence, is a lot..) Yet this land needs none such as human limits, cares not for its own condition, and as such exists as a challenge to the perspective of modern “civilized” humanity - should we choose to be aware of it. Raw, naked earth: the kind that ultimately gave rise to me (and could finish me off in a matter of hours), having stood for thousands of years, challenges the fleeting values that humans pass from one another in the systems they live by, from brain to brain, sometimes carving and rearranging the earth. Does life ever gain true meaning by belief system interaction or accrual of objects or work credits whose value is relative to a culture? My life has not - it has only gained meaning by sharing, if even for a moment, the age and seeming permanence of places on the earth like the volcanoes, with these very places, or with others through my art work. I rarely painted landscapes until I arrived in New Mexico, and their intention and focus is to capture their permanence, value, and to embellish upon them the values and events that I struggle with - as I know that they are tough enough to take it.

Equally important to me is to muse on themes of the unknown - the spiritual realms that might exist beyond people, even mythology that as old as it is has played a role in the history of the world, and to portray them in paintings that may stir interest in its audience to pursue awareness of a world bigger than our 5 senses.

The chaos that results in my work is actually more of a rhythm of what is often felt to be chaos or some event without cause, but is what I believe to be the natural rhythms of order, giving rise to the event, and while we do not expect them, are only a sign of increased awareness that we feel them at all. As the goal of Art is to shift perspective and challenge the viewer, currently I feel my role is to challenge the viewer’s sense of natural order and expectations. Yet while I feel that there is a place for me in the world of fine art, I’m unclear as of yet how to completely refine my studies, my goals, or my skills as an artist to reach my goals or to grow further towards more refined goals. Such is the nature of where I am. I’m sure that I’ll have a better name for “chaos” one day too- or a better sense of what it actually is.