ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I've been a collector of "stuff" since my childhood. Now I paint realistic still lifes incorporating items from my collection and items borrowed from others. Ideally, the objects will be old and worn, with a patina of age and use about them. (This gives me a great excuse to stop at all garage sales, collectible shops, and junk stores, plus some upscale shops as well. EBay grabs me occasionally - I have to limit myself to looking there only once every four or five months. Quite dangerous! You just never know when or where a fabulous object might appear.) I look for objects that trigger some emotional ("Boy, those faded colors on that tin game are beautiful!") or intellectual ("Could I use that Humpty Dumpty savings bank to represent the right-wing establishment?") response in me, and I paint them larger-than-life. I look for objects whose color, shape, size, design, or content will deserve many hours of studying and painting. I try to give the viewer (and myself) much to see and consider - compositions that invite the viewer to reflect deeply on the familiar, easily recognizable objects in the painting. I take those objects that evoke strong feelings in me, and I explore and expand upon my feelings by including similar objects and by painting each with such care that, hopefully, it transcends the original, often enhancing the image by making it more colorful, more meaningful, more symbolic.

I value and feature compositional complexity, fine detail, stimulating patterns, rich color, intriguing puzzles and mysteries, surprising juxtapositions, mental challenges, engaging clutter, beautiful things. I usually paint objects larger than life, which allows me, and eventually the viewer, to see those objects in a new and different light. I set up complex technical challenges for myself, tasks which require determining how to achieve the illusion of various textures (the crinkly paper on a package of fireworks), surfaces (shiny metal, dented tin), and shapes (an old tin ferris wheel with its spokes & chairs). There is inevitably a struggle within me, as I question both my ability to achieve the desired effect and my choices of such complicated and difficult subjects. Every painting has a point where it is just not working ("Why did I ever start this damn thing?"), when I feel that I cannot possibly finish it successfully. I persevere, a breakthrough always occurs, and I feel a spiritual satisfaction at achieving my goals for the painting, expanding my knowledge of its subject matter, and improving my talent as an artist.

A major purpose of my work is, of course, to affect the ultimate viewers, both with the subject matter I choose and with my technical ability. I enjoy painting objects so realistically that the viewer wants to touch the canvas to see if it really is flat. My choice of subject matter showcases my favorite things and ideas, allowing me to share my interests and values. Hopefully my work is multifaceted, stimulating the viewer on many levels. The total composition may deliver an overall philosophical message, yet on another level, the work might investigate the relationship between certain colors, and in some corner, there might be an exploration of abstraction within reality, perhaps through distorted reflections in the highly polished fender of a silvery toy car.

Periodically, a painting is a milestone for me, a transitional, breakthrough work that seems to take me to a new level of understanding and self-knowledge and satisfaction with my work. For a show a few years ago, for example, I created a painting of some old toys that had been around my studio for years, against a background of some favorite photos from books. My own emotional response, coupled with great enthusiasm from viewers, caused me to focus my work on toys for a while. The result was a series of paintings of old toys (the older and more beat-up the better), a most enjoyable adventure that allowed me to indulge my fervor for collecting, my delight in meeting other collectors, my fascination with icons and symbols of my past, my interest in design, my love of color, and, as always, my desire to execute successful paintings of entirely new kinds of objects. I spend months with many wonderful borrowed toys that I would love to own, and by thoroughly examining and then painting them, I do in a very real sense own them, and I also give them to everyone who views my paintings.

I then expanded my subject matter from toys to new but similar objects - some biographical, such as music memorabilia from the fifties and my uncle's old fishing lures, and some nostalgic, such as fireworks and stage magic paraphernalia. Pursuing my many interests and memories, while leaving myself open to new suggestions, offers innumerable possible avenues to follow. I'm curious to see where I'll go next.

Another wonderful by-product of being a painter is all the wonderful people I meet. I've had the good fortune to meet and get to know many of my favorite artists. The collectors I run into and get to know are fascinating due to their passions and obsessions and are generous to a fault, letting me borrow, sometimes for months, objects for my paintings. I'm also fortunate to have found a supportive and understanding gallery owner to display and promote my work. It all makes for a full, satisfying, and stimulating life!