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INTERVIEW
March 2008
Q.
What is the primary motivation behind your work? How would you
describe your creative impulse? In your statement you comment on
the appeal of breaking down the image and then restoring it to
another version of itself. Please expand on this idea.
A.
Glass is this smooth, seductive and mysterious substance yet it is a
very ordinary substance. It can contain something as common as wine
or it can be a piece of art. It's part of our world culture.
Glassmaking is estimated to have been around for over 5,000 years.
The same piece of glass can appear to be invisible and sometimes
appear to be opaque though it's display of reflection. With my
work, sometimes you see the painting through the transparent surface
and other times you see the reflection of the environment around it
thus obscuring the artist's physical mark. Glass has a life of its
own. A chameleon of sorts. An illusionist. There is a water-like
quality to it even though it is impervious to water. The slick
surface of the medium is appealing to me. I love the way a brush
glides across it. The feel of that action influences the soft
smooth blending of color in my work.
I was always attracted to the tactile qualities of mosaic but the
fluidity of painting. It seemed like I had to choose between the
two. I began painting on glass during a time when I simply couldn't
afford the expensive Italian glass I had become accustomed to
utilizing in my mosaics. I was going through a tough time to say
the least. I recall listening to Etta James and drinking a glass of
wine in my Seattle apartment when the reflection of the glass in a
family photograph caught my eye. It was a portrait of me with my
bohemian parents in the late 60s. I really missed them. Then the
idea came to me. What if I remove the glass from the frame, paint a
current self portrait, shatter and reassemble it like a puzzle? I
was taking what shielded an old photograph from my past and turning
it into my present. It was the perfect marriage of painting, image
making, tactile surface, reflection and resurrection. It was born
out of necessity....the mother of invention. The fusion of painting
and translucent tactile surface became my medium of choice.
Q. Do you feel that your work is
informed by the rich history of reverse glass painting? For
example, Kandinsky and his Blue Rider group in Munich worked with
this tradition in the early 20th century, etc. What influences your
work?
A. From a historical point of
view, I've been influenced by Byzantine mosaics, Gustave Klimt and
the Vienna Secession artists as well as églomisé work dating back to
pre-Roman times but re popularized in the 18th-century by
JeanBaptise Glomy. I also find inspiration in reverse painted
Chinese snuff bottles from the 1800s. The one to two inch reverse
paintings done by manipulating a tiny brush through the small neck
of a snuff bottle are quite amazing.
I found mosaics fascinating because of their tactile surface and
archival nature throughout art history. I could see them just as
the artist had made them. They hadn't deteriorated like the
frescos. The color was still as vibrant as the day the artist
created it. I could see the human element in the placement of each
tiny piece. They clearly weren't made by a machine. Every little
square CM had been touched by the artist. I completed my thesis
exploring the eastern and western perspectives of art using the
image of the Octopus depicted with colored tesserae.
Q.
Please give a basic description of your creative process (i.e. how
the work is made).
A.
As I create the image, the viewer gets to see the most intimate of
brush strokes; the true original intent of the artist - not covered
by additional marks or revisions. Imagine a sheet of glass in
between you and me. The first stroke I put down on the glass is the
first stroke you as the viewer sees. It's almost as if you are in
the inside of the painting. If I were painting on a canvas the
very last stroke I put down would be what the viewer sees. My
technique is a very permanent and a literal way of working. I can't
go back or place another stroke of paint on top with the intention
of changing the painting. Each stroke must be executed
methodically. Reverse painting on glass is like painting on the
invisible. Its reverse nature can be complicated but it's a perfect
fit for a dyslexic artist such as myself. After the paintings are
cured, they are shattered and reassembled.
Q. How do you choose your color
palette?
A. I choose color though mood or
sometime visuals I am taking in. It could be something as simple as
a pair of hot pink shoes or the color of a mushroom growing out of a
moss covered nurse log in the forest. I find inspiration for color
palettes all around me. I also find that color in itself can make
you feel an emotion. It's interesting to think about colors as
emotions and what happens when you combine those within a single
painting. They are sometimes charged with tension and other times
seem to pacify each other.
Q. How would you describe the
progression and development of your work throughout your career?
A. My earliest memories are of creating something.
I've always had a strong desire to make work even as a child. I
never thought of the word "artist" as something you do, it's who you
are. It seems to be part of a person's internal fabric. So for me,
I have had a lifelong love affair with all kinds of materials and
how I can combine them to make art. I started painting and then
focused on sculpture for a while. It was the combination of the two
that helped me develop my current work.
Q. Which artists do you admire?
A. That is always a question
that has an ever changing answer. I like to rotate books on my
coffee table and night stand. My interests are
rather eclectic ranging from Nanga Japanese Landscape Artists, John
Frederick Kensett and Martin Johnson Heade for their ethereal
qualities. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Andy Goldsworthy, Masao
Yamamoto and Mark Dion for their interaction with nature. There is
currently a stack of contemporary figurative artists on my night
stand. Some of the artists in the stack include Will Cotton,
Elizabeth Peyton, Mucha, Lisa Yuskavage, Frida Kahlo, Wangechi Mutu and
Chuck Close. I really admire Close. He was born just a few miles
from my studio in the country. I think about where he came from and
what he has endured and I am all the more blown away with his work.
The physical presence of his work speaks volumes to his
determination, patience and talent as an artist.
NTERVIEW
March 2008
Q.
What is the primary motivation behind your work? How would you
describe your creative impulse? In your statement you comment on
the appeal of breaking down the image and then restoring it to
another version of itself. Please expand on this idea.
A.
Glass is this smooth, seductive and mysterious substance yet it is a
very ordinary substance. It can contain something as common as wine
or it can be a piece of art. It's part of our world culture.
Glassmaking is estimated to have been around for over 5,000 years.
The same piece of glass can appear to be invisible and sometimes
appear to be opaque though it's display of reflection. With my
work, sometimes you see the painting through the transparent surface
and other times you see the reflection of the environment around it
thus obscuring the artist's physical mark. Glass has a life of its
own. A chameleon of sorts. An illusionist. There is a water-like
quality to it even though it is impervious to water. The slick
surface of the medium is appealing to me. I love the way a brush
glides across it. The feel of that action influences the soft
smooth blending of color in my work.
I was always attracted to the tactile qualities of mosaic but the
fluidity of painting. It seemed like I had to choose between the
two. I began painting on glass during a time when I simply couldn't
afford the expensive Italian glass I had become accustomed to
utilizing in my mosaics. I was going through a tough time to say
the least. I recall listening to Etta James and drinking a glass of
wine in my Seattle apartment when the reflection of the glass in a
family photograph caught my eye. It was a portrait of me with my
bohemian parents in the late 60s. I really missed them. Then the
idea came to me. What if I remove the glass from the frame, paint a
current self portrait, shatter and reassemble it like a puzzle? I
was taking what shielded an old photograph from my past and turning
it into my present. It was the perfect marriage of painting, image
making, tactile surface, reflection and resurrection. It was born
out of necessity....the mother of invention. The fusion of painting
and translucent tactile surface became my medium of choice.
Q. Do you feel that your work is
informed by the rich history of reverse glass painting? For
example, Kandinsky and his Blue Rider group in Munich worked with
this tradition in the early 20th century, etc. What influences your
work?
A. From a historical point of
view, I've been influenced by Byzantine mosaics, Gustave Klimt and
the Vienna Secession artists as well as églomisé work dating back to
pre-Roman times but re popularized in the 18th-century by
JeanBaptise Glomy. I also find inspiration in reverse painted
Chinese snuff bottles from the 1800s. The one to two inch reverse
paintings done by manipulating a tiny brush through the small neck
of a snuff bottle are quite amazing.
I found mosaics fascinating because of their tactile surface and
archival nature throughout art history. I could see them just as
the artist had made them. They hadn't deteriorated like the
frescos. The color was still as vibrant as the day the artist
created it. I could see the human element in the placement of each
tiny piece. They clearly weren't made by a machine. Every little
square CM had been touched by the artist. I completed my thesis
exploring the eastern and western perspectives of art using the
image of the Octopus depicted with colored tesserae.
Q.
Please give a basic description of your creative process (i.e. how
the work is made).
A.
As I create the image, the viewer gets to see the most intimate of
brush strokes; the true original intent of the artist - not covered
by additional marks or revisions. Imagine a sheet of glass in
between you and me. The first stroke I put down on the glass is the
first stroke you as the viewer sees. It's almost as if you are in
the inside of the painting. If I were painting on a canvas the
very last stroke I put down would be what the viewer sees. My
technique is a very permanent and a literal way of working. I can't
go back or place another stroke of paint on top with the intention
of changing the painting. Each stroke must be executed
methodically. Reverse painting on glass is like painting on the
invisible. Its reverse nature can be complicated but it's a perfect
fit for a dyslexic artist such as myself. After the paintings are
cured, they are shattered and reassembled.
Q. How do you choose your color
palette?
A. I choose color though mood or
sometime visuals I am taking in. It could be something as simple as
a pair of hot pink shoes or the color of a mushroom growing out of a
moss covered nurse log in the forest. I find inspiration for color
palettes all around me. I also find that color in itself can make
you feel an emotion. It's interesting to think about colors as
emotions and what happens when you combine those within a single
painting. They are sometimes charged with tension and other times
seem to pacify each other.
Q. How would you describe the
progression and development of your work throughout your career?
A. My earliest memories are of creating something.
I've always had a strong desire to make work even as a child. I
never thought of the word "artist" as something you do, it's who you
are. It seems to be part of a person's internal fabric. So for me,
I have had a lifelong love affair with all kinds of materials and
how I can combine them to make art. I started painting and then
focused on sculpture for a while. It was the combination of the two
that helped me develop my current work.
Q. Which artists do you admire?
A. That is always a question
that has an ever changing answer. I like to rotate books on my
coffee table and night stand. My interests are
rather eclectic ranging from Nanga Japanese Landscape Artists, John
Frederick Kensett and Martin Johnson Heade for their ethereal
qualities. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Andy Goldsworthy, Masao
Yamamoto and Mark Dion for their interaction with nature. There is
currently a stack of contemporary figurative artists on my night
stand. Some of the artists in the stack include Will Cotton,
Elizabeth Peyton, Mucha, Lisa Yuskavage, Frida Kahlo, Wangechi Mutu and
Chuck Close. I really admire Close. He was born just a few miles
from my studio in the country. I think about where he came from and
what he has endured and I am all the more blown away with his work.
The physical presence of his work speaks volumes to his
determination, patience and talent as an artist.
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