Technology affects the way we interpret our visual world and my recent paintings illustrate this. Most broadcast, web or printed images deal with small dots or lines or even squares called pixels.
I start with most basic shape – the square. I like it when something as simple as a square can become a complex image when placed next to other squares of varying color, value and intensity. This technique creates a unique dichotomy between the formal elements: dark and light, shape and form, flat and texture and geometric and organic.
My paintings accentuate the squares that construct the images while giving both the individual square and the whole image equal priority. It is the relationship between the abstract qualities of the individual square and the representational qualities of the combined squares that intrigue me. It is this duality within my paintings that I manipulate for aesthetic purposes.
Inspired by the mosaics of Italy and the geometric works of Paul Klee and Chuck Close, I start by using a grid system. The canvas is textured and painted with a dark color to be used as an undercoat. A drybrush painting technique is used to allow the underpaint to show through and to soften the edges of the squares so the eye can blend the shapes into form. Each painting has hundreds and sometimes thousands of hand-painted squares utilizing up to fifty unique colors.
When one views my work at a close distance, the focus is clearly on the individual squares, which makes it abstract, however, when the viewer draws back, the focus is on the image as a whole.
For me, drawing and painting have been lifelong passions.
My recent passion involves a new way of interpreting the world around me. Utilizing technology and starting with the most basic shape, the square, my work can best be termed representational abstracts. It is through variation of color, value and intensity that the squares combine to create recognizable images. The aesthetic experience varies depending on the viewer’s proximity to each piece. The focus is clearly on the individual squares and the surface quality when viewed at a close distance, making it appear more abstract. When the space between viewer and work is increased the eye optically blends the square’s colors and values into a readable image making it more representational. It is during this experience between the viewer and the work that I raise questions regarding perceived reality and its relationship to abstraction and representation.
I double majored in Visual Art and Graphic Design while at Grand View College and went on to earn a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Drake University. After graduating I moved to Chicago and became a user interface designer and part time teacher only to return to my undergraduate alma mater in 2001 to teach full time.
My original acrylic paintings are displayed in galleries, private and corporate collections throughout North America.
