Artist Bio / Statement

I am a Rhode Island based abstract painter who utilizes external and internal inspirational sources to build and create connections between infinite points. Broad sweeping color motions, drip techniques, palette knife scrapings and smears combine with gestural movements to allow for chance happenings on the canvas. The goal being to capture the chaos, emotion, energy, and inherent beauty that life experience stirs in all of us when viewing it. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University and have been actively painting since 1998. I’ve had the opportunity to appear in British Vogue, Tatler Magazine, The Huts Magazine, Purposeful Mayo and Collect Art Autumn publications. 

I paint to create connections. Primarily I’m connecting unrelated points within myself to reveal something new. Secondly, I’m striving to build a connection between myself and the observer, between myself and the elements, and ideally to heighten the connection between a person and their inner sanctum.

Connections make the world go ‘round, abstract expressionism attracts me because there’s no boundaries, no guidelines, and no safety net, and allows for the observers subconscious to take over. When the process is “working” it’s a moving, glorious thing that creates its own gravity, that surprises and delights. When it’s not, it’s like trying to solve a complex problem where an infinite number of solutions are possible. I like the problem-solving piece of it, just me in a room, deciding my next move.

When I start a new piece, it’s more a process of choosing a scheme, what tonal and value combinations excite me? What internal beacons am I seeking to voice? What haven’t I done before, or what have I failed at that I want to try again? These are the questions I typically look to, to start something new. What excites me most is how much that initial path/theme changes and evolves as the work progresses. Embracing the unexpected to achieve something wholly different than the intention never ceases to get old.

My work to me represents a snapshot of a collection of moments – a reflection of my mind-state at the precise instance that I put color to canvas, was I feeling energized and powerful? Was I feeling closed off and protective? All variables ultimately represented within that particular piece, and many pieces represent the evolution of my mind-state over the course of its completion. Often, I begin protective, quiet and introspective at the start and then the very act of expression itself elevates me and my perspective to a heightened awareness which ultimately is translated to the canvas.

My work is primarily an introspective expression, a product of my processing of my environment and the events that happen within it, past and present. Upon this framework I attempt to build an emotional connection between myself, the painting, and to the observer. Comfort and chaos, safety and strife, power, and stillness. It’s this dichotomy that I find so compelling and challenging to capture.

I almost exclusively use Acrylic and Latex paint as its generally quick drying time lends itself to fast paced decisions and movements, increasing the occurrences of unpredictability and chance happenings which add depth, excitement and meaning to every piece. Each piece is like a journal entry to me – each piece is intensely personal and cathartic.