Statement of Current Work

My artistic practice explores boundaries and our need to belong, in non-narrative abstraction, employing a format of restricted verticality. This verticality connects to structures for sharing words and information, like a sheet of paper that extends up and down too far, scanning for possibilities in a world of demarcations.

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After the recent presidential election, my work evolved to begin with horizontal blue and red (or red and blue) pencil lines. Sometimes drawn with force or drawn almost hovering above the surface, sometimes with those two colors overlapping, sometimes isolated or alternating. Then the encoding of movement and form within restrictions, engaging with the force of a brushstroke or quieting the evidence of my hand, mindful of contrasts that are all surrounding.

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The beauty of the Pacific Northwest. The multitude of inequities, past and present. The desire to help others, the desire to protect oneself. Where should boundaries be placed and which ones can just float away? And how does this affect belongingness, which is central to humanity; can there be belongingness without boundaries or exclusions? I am left to wonder, hope and evolve. Exploring these ideas and questions in narrow verticals, employing the mutability of oil paint and mixed media on gessoed Rives BFK paper is the focus of my engagement as an artist.