STATEMENT OF CREATIVE INTENT

I have found Maine & New England to be a complicated, unique and beautiful place to live and  paint.  Historically, the  well-depicted pictorial “iconography” of this region continues to inspire artists, and in particular, myself.  It is this experience that I wish to convey in my new series of works entitled, “New  Maine Perspectives.” 

 Although this series is painted realistically and the images are made up of representations of objects from the daily things of living and use the painterly
conventions of still-life, landscape, pattern and color, the images break away from conventional realism and the creation of a recognizable, three-dimensional space.

 The dynamics of “real” space within the two-dimensional format is changed, by skewing the scale of objects, altering “correct” perspective and by
using random or multiple placement of images.

 The works are made deliberately over-size and are visually complex. This adds to their impact.
 The  visual narrative and commentary is also injected with a deliberate humor, whimsy and in some pieces, art-historical reference--

for example, in-

---”Fisherman’s Friend”---what we are seeing when we look out of the window in the “curious” living room, is a very well-known painting by Winslow Homer entitled “The Fog Warning.” 

 In the “ Olson House” the image draws on the very real setting made famous by Andrew Wyeth’s painting “Christina’s World.”

 “No Trespassing” is a deliberate reminder of the fragility of our unique ecological environment.

The work is representative of explorations of my own artistic “Regionalism,” bringing a greater understanding of the unique environment and
experience that is particular to New England.