“Remnants” 20×16

I am having an ongoing conversation in paint using the concept of layering and burying to explore the idea of recollection within a symbolic landscape. Like an archeologist that digs and reveals fragments of human history the layers represent the passage of time and the importance of memory.

Memory is the reduction and refinement of an original experience that has been enhanced with emotional content and value. These experiences identify with images that come to represent a place and time in our personal history. I try to collect and assemble the assortment of impressions and distill them to their essence and lay down the elements in form, composition, and color.

Within this broader conversation I am also exploring a second theme, which is the creation of a visual language that represents and redefines the word littoral. Littoral is defined as the zone where the land and sea come together. A meeting place of disparate worlds where opposites collide and interact. I explore this area looking at the affect of human intervention on what began as a natural landscape and I work to reformulate the word and expand it to include an alternate visual definition.

Burying ideas and images deep within the construct of a composition conveys a sense of connectivity as each layer interacts with the previous, but there also exist the feeling of disconnect and isolation that is congruous with the notion of urban life. It is this exploration of color, composition and light that entices and drives me.