Artist Statement

October 2025

For me, every blank canvas as an invitation to explore.

A blank sheet of paper, canvas, or wall is a storehouse of forms waiting to be discovered: the face of future friends, plans of long forgotten cities, true reflections of past events, formulas of perfect accuracy.

A favorite childhood pass time is searching clouds for shapes that "look like" something.  When we find them, these images surprise us resonating with our personal history - - creating community when shared and unique experiences when alone. 

This dynamic – seeking, finding, and sharing patterns – is the seminal source of community, and the inspiration for my work.

Intentionally or by happenstance, humans find personal meaning in external objects, feeding a drive to connect to a larger truth.

Reciprocally, when we consider a work of art, we expect it to carry intrinsic, determinate, and discrete artist-embedded meaning — the artist conceived an image then wrestled with materials to produce the resulting artifact. Viewers expect then to simply collect meaning from the work. 

I seek to challenge this one-way dynamic and draw viewers to reflect on the relationship between perspective versus paradigm, illustrating the involution and evolution of meaning.

Every work of art is a story, a person's song/painting/photo/sculpture describes an experience. Artists invite us to "consider" another perspective, but it requires an active audience. The audience must engage the piece as part of a dialogue, noticing what they observe and questioning how this fits in with the larger piece, and ideally seeing their selves reflected.

I see my work in the currents of Absurdism, Expressionism, Dadaism, and Symbolism. Absurdism because characters in my work confront chaotic environments with humor and strength. Expressionism in that my works emote and reflect memories and moods. Dadaism in that the multiplicity of observable figures are juxtaposed against colors, sheens, and strokes and play to produce paradoxical narratives. And, Symbolism in that the pieces create integrative and holistic dynamics that invoke archetypal awareness. 

I seek to produce static images that create dynamic experiences and encourage curiosity. Traveling visually through my paintings should cause multiple and parallax perspectives. Through these treks, one should experience resonances that illustrate the construction of awareness, perspective, and meaning. Hopefully, the antithesis of a simulacra. The piece is and remains the source.

This, for me, is the goal of my work – to trigger curiosity and in so doing provide expanding vistas for exploration. I am most satisfied when an observer asks: "Did you mean to do that?" Yes, I did.

Pere Idolia

The image to the above is an example of the dynamic I chase. Passing by towels thrown in my bathtub, I saw the figure and took a photo of it. The towels were not manipulated and the image has no editing other than the selected angle of the camera, cropping, and the addition of a frame.  The human-like figure would not exist but for the perspective of my observation, the light of that moment, and the path that morning. I've titled it Pere Idolia (Father Idolia) to play on the term, pareidolia. 

pareidolia

noun, par·​ei·​do·​lia ˌper-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə  -ˈdōl-yə: 

the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. The scientific explanation for some people is pareidolia, or the human ability to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness.