I paint people interacting with paint. Highly rendered human forms wear non-objective shapes of paint drips and smears on their bodies, or even take up the paint and spread it on the picture plane as if only a sheet of glass separates viewer from viewed. Abstraction and realism are reconciled and juxtaposed as paint in its abstract quality and the human form in its visceral and defined visual quality are merged, conjoined and mutually affirmed. The applied viscous color adheres to and glides over the exposed flesh in a manner sometimes yielding, sometimes defiant. Naturally flowing over and following form, it underscores the human body as surface and subject; only to deviate suddenly and renounce the figure for the abstract. Photorealism in the works denies the limitations of the two dimensional picture plane, while the abstraction affirms that flatness. A dynamic tension rises between the two that adds to the viewer’s relationship to both of these elements. In that, my work recapitulates the historical roots of western art combined with the abstracted definition of later twentieth century art in an expressive and multi-layered visual manner. The abstract expressionist schools are now being conformed to the traditional canons of western realism thus affirming the role of the figure in art.

In the interplay between realism and abstraction, the model’s interaction with paint speaks to the creative act. Posing and facial expression lend the flowing paint markings a metaphorical quality, suggesting the important creative power of our thoughts and actions and the variously toned impressions they leave on our lives.