Artist Statement
In the early 1980s, as a young student, I joined my class in painting holiday motifs at the mall. We painted on the inside of the empty storefront windows. Meant to be viewed from the outside, it was a modern twist to the Verre églomisé or reverse glass painting technique (minus the guilding). I remember being fascinated when looking through the painted brush strokes to the real world beyond. In hindsight, this memory is certainly linked to this body of work.
My art process first entailed my photography, I found myself drawn to windows and nature. Utilizing my IPad, I “drew” bright intuitive gestures or patterns on top of the photos. The juxtaposition of the flat markings and the photo depth moved me to interpret the image in paint. This resulted in a pseudo-Trompe L'oeil (“to fool the eye”) effect.
While not painting during this time, I began learning Qigong. It's a meditative and cultivating movement of energy practice. The idea of visualizing energy as color and protection, like force fields, seemed to conceptually overlap with the imagery developing in the art.
Concurrently, contemplating psychology, the polarizing times and past personal history, I used greyscale for realism. It triggers a visual disconnect, possibly commenting on our current natural and societal state. This body of work is intended to visually energize and encourage conversations that are key to where we are in history as being human.