“Yes, they are nocturnes; but they aren’t about darkness, they’re about the light in the darkness.”
At present my work reflects two major interests that have shaped my subject matter for well over a decade. These involve roads and nighttime.
My continued fascination with all things nocturnal stems from many sources; the most obvious for me is the evocative quality of nighttime. Although my work has an almost nostalgic quality, the use of night totally changes the context of any memories or associations the viewer might have. Having something that seems familiar in the context of night alters perceptions and makes emotional responses more profound. This quality, for lack of a better term, can be anywhere from serene to somewhat menacing. These inherent emotions are affected as much by what the viewer brings to the piece, as they are by what my intentions were. Both viewpoints may be equally valid from my particular viewpoint.
The other theme present in my work, roads, has a fairly broad range of gradations as well. Roads, highways, streets: all of these and more work as obvious metaphors for a series of themes and emotions. The pathway to enlightenment, the highway to hell, the road not taken: examples of the votive values we ascribe to these objects that tie us all together. The lore and legend of the open road has seminally influenced the development of our society. Much like the sentimental ideals of the cowboy era, the nostalgia of the freedom of the open road is an idealized perception of reality. This idealized view carries a preformed perception that is strongly associated with the western part of the USA. This modern mythology, in large part, drives my work. Things are spaced pretty far apart in Taos, NM and I get to see a never-ending panorama of subject matter.
The final, and probably most important, aspect of my work is that of the aesthetic. In an age where many artists elicit emotional responses through techniques such as shock-value, I and many other artists choose to pursue the dead-art of painting. With so much bombarding us in our modern society we seldom give ourselves license to let our minds wander. I hope that my work serves as a catalyst for the viewer. If my work can serve as a visual trigger for someone to do a bit of healthy daydreaming, I have achieved my desired affect.
