About statement

Painting is not just a means of expression; it is also a way of seeing. When I am painting, the details in life stand out more. I am more aware of the symmetry of my friends’ faces, the way light falls onto surfaces, how objects fill space. These details make my life richer, more anchored in the present. Painting is an opportunity for me to explore these little things more fully, and share my impressions with others. Through an intimacy with both the oils and my subjects, I hope to convey non-physical attributes as well: peace, menace, sensuality, familiarity.

The room where I keep my easel looks like the lounge of a scientific laboratory – a late-night refuge decorated with odd glass flasks, curious specimens and discarded equipment. My impulse to surround myself with these trappings comes from a lifelong fascination with the natural sciences. I enjoy mucking around in streams or gardens, and also returning to work in the lab or the library. The science of food and cooking appeals to me in the same way: the measuring and mixing of ingredients, observation and experimentation. After all, what is painting but taking elements of the earth and using them to make something else?

Author and painter James Elkins wrote that paint(ing) is most sublime when it achieves the state between being paint and being the subject. I want to respect the paint as a physical substance, something that has a personality and agenda of its own, but also push it to that wonderful and mysterious moment when it takes on the properties of metal, flesh, light, volume, time.

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