ARTIST STATEMENT:

I consider myself very much influenced by the German Expressionist artists, being half German.  I am also very much into the 'tactile immediacy.'  Like the German artists, I tend to emphasize the physical properties of the paint and like to emphasize a profound psychic experience.

While I work directly from life, I am just as much, if not more so, interested in the paint application than the actual image.  I have a visceral, energetic, highly expressive approach that becomes more abstract as the viewer gets closer.  The image starts to become lost in the paint up close, which brings about a dichotomy of representation versus abstraction. I also have more realistic works, but prefer the dicotomy of questioning reality.

Presently, my paintings are about the discovery of self, others and the environment.  My paintings also are about the communication of complex abstract ideas and emotions into tactile terms, and the exploration of human nature, purpose and condition from a compassionate viewpoint.

"I paint what I see, I paint what I feel.”