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ARTIST’S
STATEMENT
"FOR MY DOGS, LIVING AND DEAD"
“The people of
the inner-city are the heart of our diverse culture and the focus
of my work. Frustration over poverty and injustice in these communities
inevitably leads to violence. This conflict represents the human will
to overcome inequality, the fight to resist the place and roles assigned
to us by the accidents of our birth. The way I make
art is simple: I photograph and sketch the people and places I know
and compose and paint these figures in the urban landscapes that they
inhabit. The images are composed to highlight specific content, and
become part of my evolving set of urban iconography. These symbols
are based n my personal associations. I use these symbols as tools
to create a visual language and establish an alternative at traditional
artistic models. My work purposely
confronts the viewer. My paintings are composed to invite direct eye
contact with figures and participation in their world. This involvement
is important as my work explores the degradation of human values for
the constructed values that replace them. The unvarnished humanity
and struggles of these figures conjure unexpected parallels with the
viewer, creating a space in which the viewer and figure may, for a
moment, come to an understanding. Passive observation is replaced
with dynamic dialectic in this middle-ground. My work honors
the people who struggle daily to maintain their humanity in a violent
urban landscape. The dignity of these figures is often overlooked.
The magnitude of their struggle is frequently ignored. My work invites
the viewer to examine the nature of this struggle and question the
larger cultural problems so vividly reflected on the razor’s edge
of inner-city life. The human will and desire to overcome suffering
is the source of my expression.”
PROFILE
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