riverwater.net

Emphasis:

Loose representational acrylic paintings of figures, landscapes and some still lifes.

Artist statement:

For years, I've been driven to paint as a way of investigating realness. My interest in using painting as a way to communicate gained fresh energy during my time in Antarctica. Living for over a year in such an extreme environment gave me a unique view of a world that was immense and fragile. The combination of art and science is an exciting way of extracting realness out of complicated theories and feelings.

I like to work in layers, often letting marks I make at the beginning of a piece, show through in the finished product. In my work I deconstruct the ideas that are part of our childhood and adult culture. My work also addresses the future, fragility of the human impact, strength of nature and underlying threads of danger that underpin societies. Often times these themes are combined into installations that feature mundane domestic objects, painted pure white and are often embellished. I also use a heavy amount of white in my paintings which establishes a dream-like surreal quality while addressing real issues: global warming, the effect of news media on our imaginations and the impact of our everyday actions on our environment.

Art is something that helps me express and explore. I try to do a variety of things, save the good ones, and let the bad ones go. I strive to experiment and use intuitive knowledge. The paintings that stand out to me are the ones that stir up some kind of emotion. I wish for a work of art to be a pure personal expression. Like a view of an instant in the world (or of reality itself); a poignant flash.

In recent years, I have seen the way many communities use art and observed how design can harmonize with surrounding culture and landscape. I have followed Inukshuks along the Thelon River in the Arctic, organized construction of a sculpture garden as a high school art teacher in Panamá and kept a thorough journal riding the rails across China and Russia. I am inspired by art in all of it's forms. Seeing broad parts of the world over the years has not always given me a clear vision of what life is all about. It has however, filled my mind with questions that I never would have otherwise asked. I try and work through these with my artwork. Questions that are not only relevant to my own life, but to the world at large.