artist statement

Artist Statement for Drawings

I think of my drawings as being idiomatic, as having their own distinctive forms. Like verbal idioms, their parts may be recognizable, yet they are not readily understood literally. They come from a particular language of expression. This language is natural, fluent and kinetic. It is founded in the body. I begin by viewing the poses of models- the relatedness of the parts of the body and the spaces around and through the body. I think of what I do as “tactile looking”. I touch the page with strokes, blotches and smudges in response to what I am seeing. Form being responded to as form, energy responding to energy in a visceral way. The marks twist and arch toward each other, sometimes creating a near touch, sometimes an encounter. Masses can be built, color fields can intersect and delicate marks can teeter in balance.

Mass, intersection, and balance describes my physical and mental condition as I work. It describes the dynamics of the work itself. And it describes the works’ link to the viewer. For it is in the body of the viewer that these forces can be found.