11.02.08
sometimes i think your paintings are about exposing something you know yet at other times they seem to be about investigating something unknown?
Both aspects are present and mingle. With some work, things I come to know are found through the investigation. Other times a subject is brought into the fold in order to understand.
the figurative reference lurks in these abstractions, are they portraits?
if they are portraits, are they specific personalities, and if so, are they usually the same personality or mostly different personalities
?
I am not certain where these forms come from, however, they do appear to be quite specific and with personalities of
their own.
as you consistently flip flop between abstraction and representation, what motivates you to sometime choose one form over the other?
Figuration is selfish / to conquer / capture / things contained.
Abstraction is selfless / to release / things released.
External forces and my reaction to them usually facilitates how I process and relay information.
the brush mark has become increasingly important in your paintings, what is it that you find so seductive to so obviously be doing that?
The mark is a reflection of where I am at and how I am responding to that moment. Probably best to bypass what people are saying and listen to how they are saying it.
with some frequency, amongst all the expressive brush work, you outline a discrete and smallish shape or form with a thin, almost graphic line. it is a very abrupt experience to come across in an expressive situation. what is that about?
A knob. A volume control. A contradiction. Stop. Go. Yes. No.
why do you prefer to work in a concentrated way, on many paintings over a short period of time with fairly long lapses – months – between sessions?
Human experience and Painting. I find I need distance and time to heal from both. Each one rejuvenates me from the other.
you seem rather cool and laid back in your day to day mode, yet your paintings read hot and fast. are your painting sessions emotional situations? do you enter states? is it easy or hard to disengage from the experience?
I am having a different conversation with others than I am with myself. I value both conversations too much to subject either one to the other. I never disengage from the situation; it is that the situation changes and so do the emotions.
the smaller paintings seem like contained objects and the larger paintings seem like details of something / someone. i find that oddly amusing. do you see it that way? was that a conscious decision?
No, not a conscious decision. Yes, quite amusing. I find in life anything larger than a human head to be useless.
do you find the history of painting a burden to avoid or a richness to draw from?
Yes.
is your use of abstraction similar to your previous use of mutilation, defacement, and obliteration – as a way to "get at or inside your subject matter?"
In most instances it allows for me to get "outside" of the subject matter.
i understand that you like to cook. is that something fairly recent? do you prefer baking over cooking on the stove top? do you experience any relationship between cooking and painting?
I cook all my meals. I began cooking in my junior year of college. A girl from the south cooked me a meal and I fell in love. The time, touch, and awareness was/is always transferred to the recipient. I don't bake. Unlike some I do not share a common relationship between cooking and painting. Cooking gives and painting takes.