Artist Statement

Posed photographs of groups of people—families, classmates, workers, and friends—have been the major source of images for my paintings for some time. These photos appeal to me on several levels.

I am drawn to them first for their shapes and patterns. I love the repetition of arms, crossed legs, hairbows, shirt stripes. The little negative shapes between people prompt an almost puzzle-like approach to the painting, an ambiguity of space. One color may represent background, legs, blouses, and faces within the same piece. The fact that many of the source images are black and white allows me to impose my own abstract color without limitations.

Past the purely visual, the pictures have a tremendous emotional content. People sit or stand, usually tensed, concentrating on projecting the best of themselves. They look straight out at you. My photos are from as far back as the youth of my great-great grandparents, and from as far away as the former Soviet Union. They are cherished keepsakes of my family and discarded memories found at yard sales, flea markets, and in abandoned homes. No matter from what generation or country, be they of ancestors, strangers, or friends, the pictures describe the same complex relationships, the same sense of pride.

I am an avid admirer of the American artists Romare Bearden, Jim Dine, Fairfield Porter and Milton Avery. I strive through my own paintings to capture what is, in my opinion, so special about theirs...the sublime balance between the emotionality of the subject and the abstract nature of their surface, color, line, and brushwork. My ultimate goal is to produce a figurative painting that would be equally powerful were it purely nonrepresentational.

Recently, my works have been focused mainly on images of the South. Having been born in Michigan and coming to the small town South as a young child, I developed a fascination with its history perhaps natural to a “transplanted Yankee”. The photos I have discovered of early life in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana, and their other neighbor states all contain the same quality that never fails to touch me…the triumph of strength over adversity.

Process

My process truly begins with locating the vintage photographs that serve as the references for my paintings. My favorites are "found" photos that have long ago lost their provenance are totally open to my own interpretation. I view hundreds of photographs before I find one that speaks to me in a way that begs to be painted. Aside from the basic concerns of visual rhythm, composition, values, etc., I search for images that present a quality of mystery, that pose a question as to the nature of their inhabitants. These few chosen images go into a large collection of photos that I turn to, again and again, for inspiration.

Before I begin painting, I prepare supports (gessoed stretched canvases or cradled masonite) in batches by applying layers of strong acrylic colors (most often red) followed sometimes by washes of multi-colored oils. When I am ready to create an image, I pull out one of these "under-painted" supports, select a photo to use for reference, and begin with a oil-pastel contour drawing. Once the drawing is completed, I paint the final image in oil paint, allowing varying amounts of the under layers of color and drawing to show through.

Working on a vibrant ground is an integral part of my process. It creates unexpected combinations of color, adds visual depth, and allows for a highly spontaneous painting technique. The little bits of under-painting and drawing left in the final image unify the surface and create a unique halo effect around figures.