For a couple of years I have been working on a series called “Aspects.” It could be called a series of self-portraits. Actually, the idea is for each piece not to be a representational rendering of myself, but endless states of mind, emotion, and psychology which is universal to everyone. I just happen to be my most accessible reference point. For example, the piece in the series called, "Looking Inside Out.” It was intended to evoke how a person needs to examine oneself in order to find out truths that can't be revealed by looking outwardly to understand our experiences. Instead, it’s by looking inwardly at our own unique journey in life. Then you can perceive, and understand the seen and tangible world much more clearly by first understanding yourself and how uniquely all of us as humans, process ephemeral moments in this world. It can be both extremely isolating to examine, as well as reassuringly universal.
My work process is what I feel threads and integrates my work to a cohesive end. For several years now I have been viscerally developing an unusual way of using paper. or any surface. My way of working has become as much about the touch and feel of the paper, or whatever surface I am working on, as what I will conjure on the page. Sometimes a surface will guide me in, to help find my way through a piece, either Ill be doing what it wants, or going against it. It helps to be aware, but non self-conscious about it. Once over-thinking creeps in, the flow vanishes. I have been using my fingerprints to build with marks, this is inspired by the way children finger-paint. Kids find their way by means of uninhibited touch to explore, it’s a beautifully organic and unselfconscious process to watch. In my “in-progress series Aspects,” I have been using materials which lend themselves to “the touch of my hands,” powdered graphite, pure paint pigments, Inks, graphite chunks, pencils…even involving spilled coffee or O.J. is interesting to me. I am excited to see what other mediums and tools Ill stumble upon to try. It’s becoming a liberating journey.