The majority of my paintings are acrylic on canvas though more and more when time permits I work in oil. They cover a wide variety of themes form reality and everyday experiences with others and the world, to emotions, states of mind, dreams, literary themes and philosophical inspiration. Stylistically they maintain a tension between abstraction and more realistic depictions and most utilize a very vivid palette akin to what one might find among the abstract expressionists. I typically employ an intuitive relationship to the colors I choose bent on allowing their symbolic qualities individually and in context of the colors around them to emerge and as rhythm can play a dominate role over language in poetry so may the color in my paintings dominate expressing the subject. There are times, especially in the paintings that deal directly with literary or mythological imagery, where the use of color will take on a slightly different symbolism. For instance in the piece of Sisyphus, the blue of the background is also used for the titian's eyes to symbolize the wind god as his father. I am currently working on a large scale commission about Plato's Symposium, sketches for a recently acquired commission of Persephone and collaborating with Robert Dekkers the artistic director of Post: Ballet and Post's photographer Natalia Perez on a series of paintings inspired by the vision of the ballet's recent and upcoming shows. For more information check out www.postballet.org
My photography also covers a wide range of topics and themes. I am very inspired by the way I see. This is not only related to my experience of the environments I find myself but my philosophical passions which I believe inspire not only what I see, that is what I notice or what calls out to me in the places I go or sometimes seek out, but how I view and understand what I find there. I am always interested in how we do or do not experience as well as create our environment and one of the things I love about photography is being able to present things, ideas, issues, and people that we may walk past every day without noticing. I also take photos of people though I don't fashion myself as a portrait artist and in general find myself more enchanted with Being in a broader more general sense than the particularities of certain individuals in a specific light however, i do enjoy the challenge of capturing someone such that their being shines through the picture. I am more of a hands on artist than a digital one and while this format makes it much easier to produce, store and share my work my experience with the computer side of photography usually ends there. Aside from the occasional crop for dimension needs, and lens adjustment I rarely edit a photo, I'll simply take another picture or keep the idea in mind for the next time an opportunity arises. I like to print on the larger side and all of my photos are professionally mounted on gator board which is rigid, lightweight, and comes beautifully ready to hang without any framing or matting required.
In my freelance work wherein I am shooting for hire I am often creating images that showcase the work of others. My philosophy to approaching this side of the business is very unique because I recognize that most of the artists, designers, craftsmen, and investors are not using the images as art objects in themselves but as a means to promote their work and record keeping. Unlike many professional photographers I do not sell these pictures to my clients. I charge a small site fee that varies for location and a reasonable hourly wage for shooting and editing time and give them a large digital file of all the images with my permission to use how they like and as often as they need without paying extra frees. I still maintain my rights to the images as well and enjoy cross promoting their work on my website as well as showing them to other clients or patrons who I think could benefit from their work. I believe in all of the companies and individuals I have worked with and confidently stand behind their work, among them: Paul Jeffery www.sublimehome.com, Omer Faizi www.faiziurbandesign.com, and Heather Ella Brit www.existentialella.com who did a marvelous job on the hair, makeup and accessories for model Katie Grinstead www.modelmayhem.com/2743011 who is wearing an original design by Tiffe Fermaint www.tiffefermaint.com. For more information or to schedule a shoot please contact me through my Say Hello page or by phone at 541.513.4248.