Artist’s Statement
I started using birds in my work when my grandfather was very ill. For me the birds carried the meaning of our relationship. After he passed away I needed to separate myself from the deep emotional attachment I had with the subject matter, yet I was unwilling to let go of the birds. I began to focus on mediating any given emotional connotation by removing the birds from their environment and creating a new one. This new environment is a carefully chosen system set up to carry meaning for a relationship between the objects in the painting. I hesitate to use the word “design” here, but I readily admit that the system is often more designed than it is painterly. The synthesis is contained, yet seems fragmented. The fragmentation between the pieces leaves space that is very reliant on the chosen relationships that are played out with placement, surface, and shape. This consanguinity is as much about taking away or putting away as it is about building up or building with. As the artist in this building process I am paying close attention to the dynamics of the way these things come together.