I’d like to think of art as a conveyance of a story through emotional cues. Form, color, texture scale can do that. Utilizing these to develop a shared emotional connection. The most important is when art can recall an emotion in the viewer. Ideally, I’d like that recollection to be captivating in a meditative manner.

The use of common subjects and themes within art places it in a certain context. If the subject matter contained within does not have a point of connection then the viewer has a difficult time becoming involved. Moving to the abstract absolves artwork of having to commit to a preconceived context. Getting tripped up in subject matter or the artist’s abilities at precise representation is removed – all that is left is the emotion involved. Of course working in the non-figurative world has danger – and it’s the danger of allowing anything to be possible.

To prevent this danger of choice, I work within a programmed subject-field environment and work to apply a story to its output. I do that through the considered selection and application of color and texture to try and transfer the story in my head to the canvas. The viewer gets to see the challenges I have, the choices I make as I work to tell my emotional story through painting these pre-assigned configurations.

Of course these start as my stories. Perhaps the story will never be talked about but the important part is that the story can be whatever you’d like it to be. And when the work’s story transfers itself from mine to the viewer then it is truly successful.