SPRING FEAST

My work is not borne of formalist concerns, but rather initiated by emotions, stories, people, and moments. Pieces generally change so much as they are made that early marks are completely covered over. They each have therefore, many hidden elements. I liken them to people you meet, and in some cases maybe form an opinion about, without knowing the details of their history. In some pieces I write in words, and in others even detailed plots, that may be true or made up, and then I paint over them. Giving them a back story and memories. As with people, you see an image, but not what lies behind the surface.

Once the work is in progress I engage line, color, and space, relying heavily on scale to either create a sense of intimacy, drawing a viewer closer, or to create the perception of something more universal and more removed. Small renderings of almost distinguishable shapes of animals, human figures, faces, pagodas and plants, might be juxtaposed with large, broad brush strokes delivering an overall layering that gives the work its poetic and abstract expressionist life.

Although I am self-taught, I recognize a degree of sophistication in my work that comes from a lifetime of exposure to art as well as self study. In Mexico initially, and then throughout many years of living and working as both an artist and curator in New York City. 

My early formative years in Mexico, where I first realized that I was an artist and where I first explored art making, have contributed greatly to what I see in my work as an inescapable predisposition to create certain shapes, explore color, and create work that has a uniquely Mexican back story.  Albeit, embracing the melting pot personality that is on display in the final resolution of a piece.