“One day, a long time ago, I retreated into my room and began to paint. It was an intuitive act, based on the need to express emotions and thoughts, and as in most actions followed by intuition, it was the best choice of my life and has become my closest companion.
Color is my passion and my primary vehicle of artistic expression. I feel color so intensely that it intoxicates me. When I first saw a Van Gogh painting, I drooled—exhilarated as the colors were powerfully rich and luscious. What an experience! Then later, after looking at a Rothko, I was transported to a different place, a peaceful meditative state of beautiful inner-light experience.
Color is profoundly subliminally effective. It can elevate you to many different states, and like music, it can calm you, excite you, inspire you, take away your pain, make you feel good, lift your spirits and bring you to another frame of mind. Its vibratory force can influence human behavior and is incredibly healing when used effectively.
Imagine a world without color. Color should not be feared but embraced, for it can reveal many amazing things to the human psyche.”
Art is as much an expression of my own inner life and my struggle to maintain equilibrium as it is about my observations of the world around me. From the marching mushrooms to the sensual tango dancers, from the quiet wisdom of a giant tabby cat to the intense trapped energy of the “burqa ladies,” it is a metaphor for life on 21st Century Planet Earth and the cry of that small inner voice inside us, aching to be heard.
As I paint, I am aware of a predominant tension between light and dark and between the ebb and flow of life force present in all creatures and their greatness. I love the process of painting, of letting layers appear and express themselves, of digging and digging to find elements that beg to be discovered. It is pure joy to work through the tension and get to the light, on the other side of the darkness that exists, really, in all of us.
I have always had a fascination with folds, veils, drapes, curtains, and of course, color. My palette can be rich, sophisticated, and bold. It can reveal a tenderness of the spirit or a sense of alienation or isolation. But however it emerges, color is the primary vehicle of my artistic expression, setting the mood and nudging the senses, to the realization that we all are similar. I want my viewers to see a part of their spirit in my work and understand how connected we are in a tiny quiet moment.
Although I address my work with purpose and seriousness, there is an edgy quirkiness, a whimsical twist to everything I paint. With tongue firmly in cheek, I strive to address the issues that confront us and elicit at least a wry smile from the observer. Purity, clarity, and peaceful silence: reflected in my paintings is what I am trying to find in my life.
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