The Rowboat Series
The rowboat is a simple object that sets up a figure ground relationship for these studies of gesture and color. I intend to activate the surfaces with movement and energy suggesting a moment of metamorphosis. Perhaps, the boat is subconscious evidence that I am still resolving some remnants from my last body of work, The Red Cross Series and its connection to the personal tragedy of the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. I suppose there is an attempt to create that feeling of living in a tensely activated space, (what happens when you are experiencing a tragedy) where you are uncertain as to what is real or imagined.
These works straddle representation and abstraction. The processes of drawing, erasing, painting on and painting over are as much a part of the content as the glimpses of a rowboat. There is a hint at a narrative that is not fully realized. The use of simple forms that appear or disintegrate into the surface are meant to create a tension of a world that appears familiar but the situations or images are improbable. There is a play of contrasts; clear vs blurry, transparent vs opaque, muted shades vs garish brights, ugly vs pretty, fluid vs linear, familiar vs strange, aggressive vs peaceful, and all are a part of the absurdity of experience.