ARTISTS'
STATEMENT
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I
find the transparent and reflective properties of wax paper particularly
compelling. A full range of value and color is compressed into its folds.
Light shining through it has a different color than light reflecting
off of it. Its structure when crushed creates a system of wedges, twists
and interlocking shapes almost as complex and organized as living organic
form.
This simple material, stocked in the bottom drawer of every home's kitchen
for the last 100 years, has the ability to show an enormous sense of
drama.
Our minds seem to be drawn to transparent and reflective objects. Perhaps
because those qualities remind of us water, something so essential to
life that our brains are hardwired to respond to it. Or maybe transparency
and reflection imply the ephemeral nature of seemingly-solid things,
hinting at mysteries we can't perceive directly.
Either way, the marvel of discovering a figure reflected in a silver
vase, the cascade of soft light falling through a translucent material,
the illusion of an object that seems to nearly disappear, are all visual
phenomena that delight our eye and compel us to pause and absorb the
experience.
I explore this experience in my paintings through careful layering of
thin glazes, by shifting hue and value in tiny increments to capture
the subtle effects of light. I work directly from life, and I find that
only the highest quality paint, panels, and gesso lend themselves to
the subtlety and control necessary for my ephemeral subjects.
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