“Art is many things to me: a refuge, a daily ritual, a medicine for the mind, a vehicle for learning, a secret code, a transporter, a suit of armor, a vulnerable display. Above all, art is an instrument for re-enchanting a disenchanted world. I began exploring art seriously in my early twenties when a painter friend introduced me to modern art movements and figures like Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell, Art Brut, Abstract Expressionism and the “combines” of Robert Rauschenberg. I immediately fell in love with their spirit of play and inventiveness, often disregarding conventions about the materials and aesthetics deemed appropriate to fine art.

My studio practice still draws on these early inspirations focusing on non-objective abstraction, collage and assemblage. Bringing disparate parts and ephemera into dialogue has always interested me. In my current works I am crafting structures drawing together different materials such as papers, fabrics, wood, pvc and plexiglass sheeting. I make marks and develop surfaces on these supports using painting and various printmaking techniques before collaging them into compositions on custom made display panels. 

An entire series of works can begin from a texture seen while walking down a street or a play of light encountered while driving. Any technique to create an interesting mark is fair game and thus the process is not simply an expressive practice, but an investigative one where I learn about my materials and respond to new developments as compositions unfold. Rather than merely substrates to compose pictures on, the materials I work with actively shape the mood and meaningful possibilities of each finished fabrication. Inspired by Mark Rothko’s provocative assertion that “a painting is not a picture of an experience, it is the experience,” my practice aims to create new experiences grounded in tactile explorations of our increasingly complex object worlds.”