Artist's Statement

I don't believe in them! Most of them follow this scenario: I like pretty flowers so I paint them. I hope you like my work (enough to buy it.) I accept that art is a form of communication. If my work speaks to you, it is successful! I'd rather talk about a few artists whose works influence me.

Matisse
I dropped to my knees when I saw his “Portrait of Madame Matisse” at the Art Institute of Chicago. Since then I’ve gone to as many Matisse retrospectives as I could – NYC, Chicago, and Paris. I also went to his precious little museum in Nice (2015) and his charming Rosary Chapel in Vence (2023).

Mondrian
His “Broadway Boogie Woogie.” It’s fascinating how he progressed from Post-Impressionism to abstracted apple trees to de Stijl to this amazing dance on canvas. I wanted to name my Sr. Thesis show “Ein Stijl,” one style, but my professors wouldn’t let me. As ironically as imaginable, they let me name it “Free Style.” Each painting was on the same size, surface treatment, medium, and geometric background... ​​

Modernism
I've studied almost everything 20th Century Modern through about 1960.  At the Lenbachhaus in Munich there is a painting, “The Dancer,” by Der Blaue Reiter group artist Vladimir Burliuk. When I saw it in 2022, I felt that he was my artistic third cousin. Its thin layer of paint showed the effects of neglect and somehow resembled my recent drawings, charcoal on rough paper with mostly faint traces of color set atop.

​I don’t know if this told you any more about my art than the typical artist’s statement. I just hope that you’ll look at the images and let me know if any of them make you smile.