CHARCOAL DRAWINGS

The objective of my art is to create shapes, spaces, and textures that have the look and feel of unmediated natural forms. Towards this end I use a drawing process in which I apply forces, like flowing air and liquid, to granular material, such as powdered charcoal and bone black. This is analogous to natural processes at all scales. The resultant images are not reflections of objects and environments actually found in nature, they only appear so because they are constructed with the same multilevel stochastic processes that underlie the universe we inhabit.

While I utilize randomness on the micro level, on the macro level my images are guided by formal structural considerations. I look for and try to nurture certain qualities: textural complexity within images of apparent simplicity; multiple possible focal points where shifts of attention lead to unexpected transformations of meaning or foreground-background transpositions; potentially jolting variations in scale; surfaces that arouse haptic sensations; and depth that implies hidden space. I search for the fresh and unfamiliar, the difficult to name, visual mystery and its concurrent tension. My desire is to create visual excitement with an emotionally complex aftertaste. My drawings are not a representation of my internal fantasy world or a romanticization of the natural world, rather they are impressionistic fields of potential discovery, where the physical and emotional nature of the worlds they depict are not just left open to, but are absolutely dependent upon the viewer’s engagement and interpretation.