The White Paintings 2021-2023
I always like art that looks like it was discovered rather that made.
How little or how much must I put into my work is a theme that runs through the last 20 years of my artistic practice.
At first glance, my paintings may read as horizons punctuated with geometric fragments. Recently in the studio, I noticed an underlying thread in the works: the silent, subtle color fields punctuated with teetering geometry appear like fragmented memories or swatches of time. The paintings seem to represent a small part cut from a larger vast space.
I grew up in Texas used to seeing vast flat horizons. When I moved to a German valley, I felt as though I was living at the bottom of a bowl, unable to see enough sky. In California, I respond to ocean and water, although I have no interest in making traditional seascapes. I appreciate the vast flatness and slight curve of the earth and the changing, subtly of water.
I’m interested in certain qualities of minimalism: the grid, the cool silence, and rationalism. But I want to add to that minimalism more color, geometric moments, surface texture, and, finally, emotion.
This work originates from the idea that one very small piece could stand for the whole -- a tiny sliver representing the whole that we all are.