Introduction

A Conversation

I thought I might start off with my most fundamental tenets about my own painting, which is the notion that they are conversations about my reality. They are conversations about being, in space and time. And as such, relative to place. We observe, and respond. Some process this in simple ways, and others in complex ways. At least that is the way it seems. I think we all react to the world in different ways, but to the same things... same fears, joys, trials, and tribulations.

My cognitive style is visual, of course, and that is the foundation of both my observations and responses to my reality. Everything gets translated into visual, and then responded with visual. I paint mostly in the representational style, which gets confused with realism. There is no time to completely make up symbols in my world, I am comfortable with common ones. The difference between representational and realism is that (in my mind) realism is trying to mimic reality visually in a way that we will all agree is document. Representation is just having an amount of recognition of objects we all encounter in order to facilitate the response. Much like conversation... That said, I can drift toward realism easily, and have to be careful... realism is too easy. See it, spit it out. Leave yourself out of it. Much harder to have a conversation than to instruct.

In the realm of conversation, realism can become tedious and boring. One can get bogged down in the details, and in the desire of realists to measure themselves by perfection. I leave that sort of detail  to photography. The most interesting conversations are not overburdened with details and facts. The best conversations contain a little fact, a little fiction, a little drama, a little about me, a little about you, a little about common experience, and a little about personal. They have some story telling, some spin, some denial, and sometimes a little entertainment, and the humble fact that they are only a perspective.

I want my painting to do the same.  In the end, I want them to be meaningful to me and for my own sake, meaningful to someone else so others responses are the yang to my yin in the exchange. I hope they listen as well as speak...