Boundaries

Sometimes it is necessary to draw lines. I need to protect myself and understand my own limitations.  I need to make certain that I am clear about what I expect from the people around  me.  I demand respect!  This world only gets more ridiculous each day.  My perspectives are consistently challenged by the trials of the human condition.  I am becoming more assertive.  I will no longer allow myself to be manipulated or taken advantage of.   The lines are drawn. They are thick, heavy and unwavering.

Relief

The Mock Turtle by Maia Bissette

Watercolor by Ruth Garbus, created onsite at the Festival of Endless Gratitude Vermont Flood Relief Benefit

My brother Daniel performing with Christina Schneider at the Festival of Endless Gratitude Vermont Flood Relief Benefit

This has been a serious week, at the end of a weary summer, in the midst of a relentless year. Yet today I am persistent and continue to hold fast, confident that the sum of our creative endeavors will thrive and discourage those who threaten the stability of our lives. We broadcast our local achievements across continents and communicate what matters most. We revive the reason and wisdom of ancient tribes, their ghosts rediscovered in traditional and technological experiences of artists committed to their work.

Nostalgia

the light of an overcast morning

crept like a child into the bedroom.

True Love

A practical escapist saved me from myself

and reawakened the dreaming

that once governed my fear.

Composure

Haunted by echoes of a reckless past

I keep my composure, I acclimate.

Identity

Artist Statement
Spring 2011

I am an artist. In my work I explore images that reflect fantasy and the subconscious mind-scape, generating portraits of generalized memories intended to illuminate emotions and personal mythologies. By integrating styles of abstraction, graphical stylization and realism through assemblage and collage, my technique becomes a catalyst for conception.
Using this process the illusion of distance is cultivated by infinite horizon lines. In the spaces I create I use figures to infer foreground and background. Illustrative portraits of characters captured in momentary actions express emotions and contemplative moods. In my smaller series their vellum forms are mod-podged atop chimerical grayscale mindscapes similar to earth and sky. When my method progresses to a grand scale, large creatures loom as though suspended in water against bold colors that amplify the massive drawing installations. They are a menagerie of textures and rhythms of brushwork interlaced with soft swarms of clouded, paper-towel softened, watery ink blots. To juxtapose the apparitions, figurative realism is captured with vine charcoal to manifest a gentle self-portrait trapped in nostalgic reflection.

Backdrops suspended from nails with grommets' have been embellished by the captivating twirl of a toy mouse' tail tooled with sumi-e brush hairs. The whirling contraption has flung black ink across the surface, at times dispersing where water was sprayed. What forms is the loose impression of willowy flower blooms and botanical patterns that emerge in a dance of orchestrated pictorialization. The substrate is then saturated with sepia ink and watercolor horizons.

My process is what delegates the success of each piece. The line work is gestural, describing the splatter and bleed of marks explored by nuances of energy, focus and emotion. Ink lines twirl and waver from heavy, dark and smooth to light and translucent. At times the brush strokes are dry and broken, contrasted by fluid lines that are multiplied by tapered hairs. Biomorphic forms are identified, selected and cut with x-acto blades. Colors are applied methodically using pencils, paints and markers. The integrity of the work lies in the final throws, where the composition is derived in the assemly of it's manufactured elements. Each decision is driven by the excitement and discovery of underlying themes that materialize organically. I allow myself to feel compelled by the essence of my subliminal self. I reawaken the dreaming that once governed my fear.

Expose

In the wake of the aftermath we assess the devastation and rebuild.  Though I am safe and dry, the world in which I have grown as an artist and individual has been massacred by rainfall.  I am in awe, distraught by the implications.
In order to avoid becoming overwhelmed I have decided to focus on the goals I set for myself prior to the flood.  As an artist I have decided to take the initiative and establish my online presence.  This is the first post of what will become many in the sharing of my creative endeavors and observational speculations.