PAINTINGS

The crux of my artistic practice rests in a nuanced duality: a keen embrace of meticulous naturalism counterbalanced by a bold acceptance of unpredictability and chance. This dichotomy of detail and ambiguity forms the basis of my paintings, inviting observers to explore not only the finite but also the infinite within each painting.

In every work I undertake, my process is steeped in a fervor for accuracy and precision. Drawing inspiration from the masters of the Renaissance, I painstakingly transcribe my perception of the world onto the canvas with as much detail as the human hand and eye allow. This is not a passive process, but rather, an active engagement with my subject matter, requiring significant time, dedication, and an innate sensitivity to the nuances of light, color, and texture. The painting, at this stage, is a testament to my relentless pursuit of clarity and control, a meticulous record of what is perceivable to the eye.

Yet, I also recognize that visual representation is only one facet of understanding. It is a necessary stage, but not the end destination. Therefore, after achieving a point of representational completeness, I introduce an element of chance. Employing a broad brush in a method akin to the “sfumato” technique pioneered by Da Vinci, I consciously and unsentimentally traverse the canvas, creating an atmosphere of softened transitions and subtle tonal gradations. This sweeping gesture often obfuscates the painstakingly detailed work underneath, yet, in this apparent destruction, a new creation appears.

This radical technique has profound implications, both conceptually and aesthetically. The act of “erasure” is not about eliminating but rather, about revealing: revealing the essence, the core of truth beneath the surface details. It emphasizes the salience of our perception, forcing us to question what we consider important and what we choose to see. This unveiling draws attention to the fragility of things, the ephemeral nature of reality and the fleeting grasp of our understanding.

In the final reckoning, my works are not about a finished image; they are about the transformative process that leads to it. It is a dance between the dichotomies - clarity versus ambiguity, control versus chance, creation versus erasure. It is a tribute to the very process of seeing, to our human desire to grasp the world around us, and to the profound understanding that reality, in its truest form, is both clear and elusive at the same time. This duality, the dichotomy, is at the heart of my artistic quest - an unending exploration of the interplay between the known and the unknown, the seen and the unseen.

PHOTOGRAPHY

In the confines of my creative exploration, I navigate a territory that straddles photography and painting, tangibility and abstraction, observation and interpretation, thus illuminating the ever-evolving discourse on visual representation and perception. My work, a creative chimera of found imagery, studio-based manipulations, and painterly practices, deconstructs and reconstructs the act of seeing, challenging the established notions of reality, dimension, and form.

The journey of my work begins with a vigilant, almost voyeuristic, collection of visual ephemera: textures, shapes, and forms gathered from the mundane to the extraordinary, the everyday environment to carefully curated sketches in the  studio. Each image, an echo of a place, a moment, a sentiment, is a component of a complex visual lexicon that I’ve built over time.

Using these photographic tesserae, I begin my creative process which oscillates between the precision of technology and the raw intuition of my painting practice. Each composition arises as an amalgamation of hundreds of these captured fragments, layered, manipulated, and transmuted, obscuring their origin to create a whole that transcends the sum of its parts.

Some of my compositions seek to serve as a sanctuary of thought, inviting the observer into a meditative dialogue with the image. The subtle gradations of colors, the soft blurring of forms, and the quiet rhythms inherent in these pieces are akin to a visual whisper, a serene undercurrent in a world often overwhelmed with noise.

In other instances, I court dissonance, provoking a jarring response from the observer. The discordance of colors, the tension of juxtaposed forms, and the dramatic textures reflect the inherent contradictions of life itself, presenting a visual cacophony that questions the comfort of coherence and harmony.

Despite the photographic DNA of my work, the finished compositions exude an undeniable painterly quality, in their aesthetics, narrative potency, and developmental formation. By pushing the boundaries of the photographic medium, I encourage my work to exist within the liminal space between photography and painting, thereby subverting both traditional categorization and observational expectations.

My artistic mission is thus a subversive exploration into the malleable boundaries of visual mediums and a testament to the potency of perception. It is my aspiration that this work incites observers to question, to connect, and ultimately, to see their world through a new, challenging lens.

DRAWINGS

In my drawings, I explore the profound complexity that emerges from the simple act of line-making. Each line, a narrative in itself, accumulates into intricate patterns and rhythms that move across the surface, reflecting the dynamic interplay of order and chaos that defines existence. These patterns, grounded in the tangible world through meticulous detail, invite observers to engage with the familiar in unfamiliar ways, finding depth and meaning in the everyday. My work is a visual meditation on interconnectedness, a celebration of life’s complexity, a testament to the extraordinary beauty that can be found in the ordinary and seemingly simple when seen with a discerning eye, and the notion that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.