Gallery Description
My current work is abstract. It is all derived or sourced from a light-formed image. Some of my sources are film-based but mostly I work in the digital realm. I have been working digitally since the beginning, before Photoshop and before digital cameras. I found an affinity to using a machine as my medium. The reason for that is probably because I can’t draw. How I use technology to render my ideas has been an evolution of capabilities and interests that I have sought out along the way. Currently, I am exploring the spatial nature of the world. I want to give voice to the fact that we live in a dimensional universe and my art reflects that. My subjects are not significant in and of themselves, but serve to define the dimensional nature of our existence. I see beyond a surface representation, and my images portray the complexities and nuances that fill our lives.
The ideas behind my work fall along two lines, creations that follow nature and others that are a result of man. Currently I am exploring imagery where the two lines meet or sometimes collide. Communication is a continuing theme in my work.
My purpose in exploring these subjects is to give light to the reality that much of what passes as knowledge consists of notions drawn from somewhere on a spectrum of facts and ideas and is never the whole story. Often my work draws upon post-industrial iconography to illustrate the human condition’s narrow aperture of understanding which prevents us from seeing the world in its vast complexity.
My interest in depicting the “wider world” stems from the beginning of my spatial studies. I started my investigation with holographic imaging. I made actual spatial renderings of real objects. The ability to capture the entire story proved to me that it is possible to convey a literally deeper meaning to my ideas. My awareness of broader horizons has been influenced by my time working at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art where I serve as the Senior Photographer. In my time there I have explored an encyclopedic collection of mankind’s most brilliant, all times, all cultures. This unique and privileged opportunity has furthered my understanding of how we interpret the world we live in and has worked to influence my work.
I create all of my work using Photoshop, which serves primarily as a tool rather than an influence; a very sharp tool that allows me to fashion my ideas the way a sculptor orders matter and space into existence. Having good tools is necessary for me to render the complex nature of my work. Currently I am using a more accessible technology to put forth my ideas. I employ special viewing glasses to fully access or unlock my work. It is my goal to make work that is free from needing the glasses to comprehend but is fully revealed when they are used. I see them as the key to unlocking the entire nature of my work. I currently am using ink jet printing for output.