Biography

My lifelong interests – including music, science, mathematics and art – are constantly
being woven and re-woven into my paintings and works on paper. Because of my
background as a musician, I have a strong feeling for musical metaphors and serial
systems. My interest in music is especially present both in terms of the visual intervals
and patterns that appear in my work; physical engagement and a sense of performance is
always part of my studio practice.

 

I am drawn to intersections: ideas that might seem to be at opposite ends of a continuum,
like the organic and the geometric. My starting points vary: they can come from
something personal, something glimpsed or from my experience of a piece of music. As a
graduate student, I spent a lot of time around John Cage; his early influence, to this day,
informs my studio practice of intention and chance.

 

My works attempt to create environments that I want to find in myself: they represent
internal worlds that I am attempting to externalize. My pieces are quiet, and are meant to
express a form of serenity. However beauty is expressed, however it is felt, has to do with
the feeling of calm, inside and out. I love what the late jazz musician Charlie Haden said:
“The artist’s job is to bring beauty into a conflicted world.”

 

Each work and each series is a visual diary of my explorations. My ideas evolve as I
apply my intellect, my sense of order and my sense of play to the images and materials at
hand. I may start with an idea in mind, but somewhere between intention and chance I
find new directions. I’m never quite sure how a painting will look until it’s finished.