Artist Statement:
Since ancient times man has used art to tell stories. My work follows in this tradition with a commentary around global climate change. Often using wildlife to create a point of view, the paintings depict the results of the human impact upon nature. They have us question what is and what will be.
Embedded with a unique visual language of intricate and subliminal patterns, the work bridges the literal and the imaginative. It is informed by NW indigenous art as well as other cultures. In my process many of the images are comprised and assembled from smaller bits of information. One of the underlying principles of the work is to create pieces where 'The sum of the parts is greater than the whole'. In this regard, the paintings transform from up close or viewed from afar. The details dictate assembly. Often in the background I use images as a descriptive language to be deciphered and interpreted. Im fascinated by how the mind visually searches to recognize the familiar.
Artwork:
Fight or Flight depicts the conflict between man and nature. Particularly it calls into question the issue of open pit coal mining......indicative of some of the worst carbon pollution. Note that the swans are becoming transparent which symbolizes the fading out of species and loss of bio diversity. The sky represents pollution and is mechanized in its depiction. The eye of the swan is aligned with the pivot of the power shovel again reinforcing the illustration of this conflict.
