I am involved with the precarious balancing of realistic
and abstract expression. When successful, they intensify each other,
the one drawing you into its illusion of depth, weight, and the
raw grace of human form; the other making you dramatically aware
of the process of paint and drawing materials being moved about
on a two-dimensional surface.
Sometimes my work is concerned with very controlled modulated
tones, carefully and slowly built up with a wide range
of graphite sticks and dramatic use of
negative or open space. Another body or work was developed in mixed technique,
utilizing pastel, chalks, oil crayon, graphite, and turps or wash in various
combinations, and in a very free style with strong linear components.
The classical training I received at the Boston Museum School
was based on the precept that good drawing is the basis
of all art; hence, drawing everyday.
Learning
the traditions and techniques of the masters – anatomy and perspective;
the grinding of our own pigments; preparing rabbit-skin glue, gesso and old painting
mediums; stretching, sizing, and priming of canvas; laying of gold leaf; fresco
painting – contributed to my love for the traditions of the past, and
simultaneously, a struggle to break away from them.
Raw edges, the feeling of life and process which exist in an
unfinished study; the use of space in which the silence – that which is left unspoken – is
allowed to manifest itself as articulately as the completed image – these
have become basic elements of my work. The medium and techniques used vary,
but most of my work itself deals with the abstract essence of the human form
and
with its poetic interpretation.
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