It is my belief that the real beauty in art is not found in what is presented but rather what is achieved. I don’t think though that this has anything to do with whether a work of art is good or bad- partially because I am not sure how you really judge that or whether you can judge that.

I think it comes out of the nature of art making. Think about it. You start with things that you know: materials such as paint, cloth, wood, staples or whatever and you merge them with ideas that you have or concepts that you recognize, but, what is produced is consistently unfamiliar. The idea that combining the known produces something previously unknown is really a thing of beauty.

In terms of my own work I see it in two ways- not that it is about two things, but rather I understand it through two different lenses- these I suppose act as artist’s statements, first the more indulgent of the two:

I.

At times the works I make feel less like paintings, or sculptures- sure they are them but they feel more like Things. Things that portray, Things that proclaim and Things that exist- regardless of their description. When asked, “What have you made?” I am initially inclined to say, “Oh, I don’t know, Some Thing”. I suppose a suitable complement would be, “Oh that Some Thing, that Some One (you, or for me, me) made is really Something!” After all Some Thing is Some Thing that I have made- for me it is a Thing to take pride in.

And now, the less indulgent of the two:

II.

My current paintings are focused around the idea that artworks by nature are carriers of meaning, but more than that, they have identities. The idea in Western art that an artwork is a reference to other meanings is misleading. This does not account for the individual work’s physical presence- the very part of it that makes it a real tangible item.

Language is like this as well and thus it has made its way into my work. In many cases it is not the words written that have meaning, but rather their structure as a whole- this structure of language is a fitting equivalent to the structure of a painting. It is my goal to make works whose physical structure and identity produces a meaning inherent to the moment one encounters the physical object of the work and one whose identity morphs from the moment one encounters the work, to the time one leaves it and remembers it and thus returns- though changed upon a second encounter.

I am greatly indebted to the work of many visual artists, poets and writers. These include: Alfred Jensen, Marsden Hartley, Jasper Johns, Forrest Bess, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Joan Mitchell, Ranier Marie Rilke, Raymond Carver and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.