MY PAINTINGS

   As a "Realist" I find inspiration in a part of our reality that is often associated with Surrealism.  Instead of trying to paint the weirdness of my dreams, my work revolves around the one very clear important message the subconscious mind is always sending.  Our actual reality is much deeper and profound than just the surface of reality that we are used to seeing. 

    As harbingers that bring this message, my dreams come with soft distortions and muted sounds instead of screams.  When something strikes me with this kind of depth, I use the photographs I take and my drawings to create a composition.  Then I let my painting dictate what it wants to be.  Like the strange importance of an object in a dream, I’m surprised by the significance an object can acquire when it is painted.  I am intrigued by other things that almost can’t be changed, like the odd stillness of something that should be moving or a certain likeness that looks like someone else.   

     Just as in the best of dreams, I may not always be able to interpret the meanings of my paintings but I do know what I have never tried to say.  I have never tried to make a social statement with my work or to preach a point of view.  I don’t try to amuse or shock anyone and I have never tried to paint a “charming frozen moment.”

     I want every painting I do to be like a living moment, with a past, a present and a future that moves on unresolved saying something indistinct.  Rather than trying to paint reality just the way it looks I would like my paintings to say something of its essence.  I would like my work to haunt.

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