For the first 40 years of my artistic expression I worked on canvas. My paintings were non-objective abstractions. In 2017 I had begun to use wooden panels as a surface. I used collage as a way to create my work by painting and cutting and attaching other painted pieces of wood to the picture plane. I reorganized and repainted the pieces until I found an arrangement that expressed my aesthetics. The surface of the work revealed the 1/4” depth. I began to break the rectilinear edges of the flat surface. I learned to incorporate the shadows of the cut pieces and use them to create the illusion of lines on the surface.
I used a table saw to cut my wooden shapes and the majority of the cuts created straight edges. I found the addition of organic shapes incorporating or denying the straight edges by painting organic shapes upon them, creating a new tension.
In 2018 I began to recess the wooden attachment into the surface similar to puzzle pieces. The recesses began to deepen and the pieces attached to the surface began to create relief works. The separation of the recesses and attachments grew to several inches apart.
As the process continued, pieces of the paintings were often removed revealing voids which were assimilated into the work and at times exposed the supporting structure of the work or the wall behind the painting.
As the space between the front surface and the back surface expanded it exposed edges and sides of the protruding sections. This changed the complexity of the work; the painted sides of the relief allowed me to offer different views from all angles.
Now cutting organic shapes with a jigsaw and placing them over existing geometric shapes also increased the visual tension. From the use of the jigsaw and a sledgehammer the shards and large chunks of wood added another element to my paintings.
In the last 4 years, my 2-dimensional work became 3-dimensional. My visual vocabulary increased. Tension in the work increased. Revealing and exploring the interiors of my work added glimpses of the history of the work. The viewing experience for the audience was enhanced seeing differing views from various angles.
The work I do has always been informed by the process and spontaneity is paramount despite being carefully orchestrated. The ideas I use now explore opposites; the future and the past, the positive and the negative, the complex and the simple, the calculated and the spontaneous. Today each piece I create is simultaneously an extension from the past, where I’ve come from and what I’ve learned, as well as a preview of the future, where I’m going.
