I
have chosen to develop a style of artistic expression which
has little precedent in the modern aesthetic vernacular. I
have ignored the modern concept of the human being as divided
into mind and body, and of the human as separate from nature.
In
an attempt to find meaning, I have reached beyond the sources
of the conscious, commenting, language-oriented mind to something
older, richer, deeper and more primitive in the human psyche.
I am convinced that there is a need for modern man to move
beyond his dualistic relationship with reality. Thus I have
been most drawn to the older and more spiritual artistic traditions:
in particular, the cave paintings at Lascaux, middle American
Indian art, elements of Greek and Roman mythic works, and
the Renaissance painters and sculptors. Recognizing these
traditions, I have not tried to repeat them but have chosen
instead to create an artistic expression which gropes for
a future, as yet unseen, where internal reconciliation of
both the individual and his world is possible.
My
approach, materials and methods are directly related to my
artistic philosophy. I begin my work with pencil drawings.
These drawings are created on paper by a process which can
only be called "automatic drawing." Initial lines
on paper generate their own images. These non-rationally created
images are compositionally refined and translated into three
dimensional bas-relief terra cotta sculpture panels which
exist somewhere between two-dimensional and three-dimensional
space. The translation from paper to clay and thus from two
to three dimensions also allows for a further deepening of
the initial two dimensional imagery. The clay work is initially
fragile; it may explode in the kiln when fired and be completely
lost. The images themselves are ephemeral; they are of things
and beings that do not exist in the "real" world.
Yet, at the same time, they have the potential to create real
meaning for the viewer which may change they way he lives
his life.
The
original inspiration for these panels was Ghiberti's golden
doors, depicting scenes from the life of Christ, which I had
seen when I was in Florence, Italy as a student. Like these
doors, my panels are aimed at inspiration for the integration
of the human spirit; yet, unlike the more traditionally religious
imagery of the doors, the imagery of my panels draws from
a wider range of mythical sources. The stories on the panels
also seem to have a familiar literal quality, yet on closer
examination they are familiar only as symbol and literal only
in an imaginative sense.
It
is my conviction that my works provide openings into a different
mode of relating to reality which we have lost but which needs
to be recreated and refashioned to fit our modern circumstance.
With these panels I am attempting to express our prehistory
while at the same time generating a future iconography.
The
panels are strongly affecting, and individual pieces can generate
moving and often times contradictory responses in different
viewers. I believe this is because my works challenge each
viewer to honestly delve into the inner reaches of their creative
self. I have observed that such a challenge can alternatively
be viewed as stimulating or offensive depending on the viewers
openness to the process.
The
pieces have an earthy relationship with life which makes them
more compatible with an organic space such as a garden than
with a dry, intellectualized gallery space. One is called
by them to return to something known but forgotten, not so
much to discern the development of aesthetic elements (color,
line, form) but rather to discern their meaning in a deeper
spiritual sense. It is this experience which I am most committed
to in my art and which I feel lies at the source of renewal
for our present art and culture.