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I feel that artist statements tend to limit the viewer’s experience of the work. Each individual will extract his or her own significance, if any, from a work of art. Whether it is what the artist intended seems inconsequential to me. On the other hand, if I enjoy someone’s work, I often want to hear something from him or her about it. So I understand the case for artist statements. But it is my hope that what I say here does not limit your experience.
I am fascinated by the juxtaposition of the abundant narcissism in our largely impersonal and disconnected society with the undeniable parallels in each of our lives and experiences. This is something that comes through in my paintings. The abstracted figures represent the ambiguity of most human interaction. In many of my paintings, I use abstraction to emphasize this lack of day-to-day connection with those around us – the figures are reduced to mere objects passing each other by. Additionally, as objects, the figures are devoid of any recognizable features that might distinguish them from one another. Our society is not only very impersonal and disconnected but frighteningly homogenized. Our hyper-controlled media attempts to define everything for the masses. And overall, the masses listen. The figures melding into one another could be thought to represent this homogeny. Alternatively, the melding together could represent our unity – that indeed we are, in fact, all having generally the same human experience, and community is unavoidable; the connection between us is ever-present and irrefutable. |
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