Statement

Visual tension is a very important element in my work. Things don’t always need to be pretty or in place or even make sense to me because that’s not reality.  If art does not make you wonder what it is to some degree, then I'm not interested.  It's okay to be uncomfortable with a piece and even wrestle with it.  That "tension" and emotive connection is what makes the difference for me.

Statement

Like all artists I have drawers and drawers of artwork; we carry the past around like a snail; the images get re-shuffled and re-shelved.  Yet there is an interesting history of artists who have destroyed their earlier work. Some did it out of frustration, some to reduce inventory and some to create new conceptual pieces or performances. As I developed this work, cutting and tearing up my large format Polaroid prints, I was often shocked with the chaotic piles of debris which took the place of the carefully archived prints I had carried around for years.  After so many years of composing images through a viewfinder, the process of assembling and gluing a collage was terrifying.  As I worked, the structure and visual language I was looking for began to emerge.  The earlier photographs were transformed; a resurgence of ideas.

These works are photographs of montages made from Polaroid photographs.  They are purposely presented on a scale usually considered by painting.  As with much contemporary art, the series Resurgence cannot take the label of a singular art form.  The original Polaroid photographs were made in New York City and Boston in the early 1980’s when I participated in the expansive artist program developed by the Polaroid Corporation.  We were given two or three days ‘on camera’ with the 20 x 24 camera and technical assistance.  There were no limits on production and the results were immediate.  My spontaneous explorations with figures, fabric, long exposures and movement resulted in a lot of prints.  I have chosen to reconsider the rich color of the materials and restate the images.  The montages were re-photographed and are UV Pigmented prints on acrylic.

Statement

I’m always blindsided by the beauty of the accidental. The unpredictability of working abstractly is where I seem to thrive. It’s not always a comfortable place but one where unforeseen results become pivotal and transform my art in unexpected ways. The results of experimenting with new materials and ways of working can be seen throughout the exhibit. The small drawings in the show –“One Thing Led to Another” – are something close to my heart. I've always found drawing so freeing and honest in its immediacy, relying on the subtlest visual distinctions. Each stand alone 9” x 12” work is a spontaneous exploration of marks and materials. The group as a whole forms a community celebrating both differences and similarities. Whether in painting or drawing I’m searching for qualities of vibrancy and luminosity; passages that are both elegant and awkward; environments where color and line partner to tell the story. I want the viewer to take time to to see things with child-like intensity and to feel slightly blindsided themselves.