Arist Statement

I define myself as a painter. Such a label is essential to my work since I am motivated by the rich history of painting, the exploration of its technique, and especially by the complex relationship between the second and third dimensions that exist in the core of the practice. My current body of work represents two different starting points for a painting. The first part of the portfolio consists of work that I started by simply looking at my subject in the most direct and traditional way. I painted in the presence of the subject, outdoor or indoor, physically and mentally existing with what is depicted. The second part consists of paintings inspired by found images. In both cases, I’m searching for sense and order in a scene, whether it is happening in front of me or belongs to the past. Pursuing these two different modes of “translation” helps me further explore the painting’s two dimensional nature and my role as it’s creator. I explore the different levels in which I feel comfortable relying on what’s in front of me, and I often ask myself questions of loyalty and independence in relation to reality while I do so. Since I do not aspire to become a realistic painter, each painting is a “translation” of what is real into the two dimensional canvas. Once a painting’s composition starts to form I somewhat surrender to the essence of it as the new object, into its flatness. Colors, shapes and patterns start to sololy exit for me in their most pure, out of context and abstract way. Shifting between the different scales of the canvas, I isolate forms, lines and strokes into individual artistic decisions. I make a constant effort to remember and forget what it is that I’m painting, jumping between the roles of the observer and the originator. The time between the starting point of the painting where reality is still sharp and clear, and the finished painting is a sort of fourth dimension. During that time, I am pushed and pulled back and forth by the tangible and the spiritual.