Artist Statement
In two recent series of watercolors, the artist continues his intensive involvement with still life. Starting with the still lifeâs potential for focused observation and detailed representation, each complex work becomes a medium for both aesthetic pleasure and expressive meaning.
The process of painting these still lifes begins with an array of objects such asÊ flowers, leaves, stones, and printed cloth. Over time, the artist keeps arranging these items (many of which have a personal significance) until they are intuitively right. The painting begins with a pencil-drawn indication of basic forms, followed by a grisaille stage of tonalities in warm or cool grays, followed by layers of color.
The Studio Still Life Series features the fluid interweaving of strongly patterned Japanese kimonos with actual blossoms and fruit, anchored by rocks and vases. His Rituals & Meditations are centered on a shallow, faceted Japanese plate, which hold a similar selection of elements, echoed by printed fabric or other surrounding objects. The series have in common a viewpoint from above, which allows for a visual merging of flat pictorial space and represented dimensionality. The effect can be disorienting and spatially disjunctive, challenging the viewer with the play between illusion and reality. A recurring theme is life-giving water, symbolized by images of fish and waves, echoing the water that sustains the flowers, and the liquid flowing from brush to paper.
These images juxtapose a series of dualities: soft and hard, symmetry and chaos, the enduring and the ephemeral. These contrasts, embodied in the regularity of bowls and plates set off against the fluidity of petals and patterns, fuse into a vibrant vision of the unity of lifeâs fundamental forces. This work invites the viewer to enter into its created reality, both visually and emotionally, working out for themselves its allegories of vulnerability and renewal. These paintings, made with an attitude of reverence for the beauty of all things, welcome the same energized contemplation that animated their realization.
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