- "I See My Art As The Juncture of Painting, Sculpture and Drawing"
Artist's Statement
My art is inspired from two sources. The first is the natural world that we enhabit. Nature provides us with an endless supply of examples of different textures, patterns, shapes and colors that can spark the imagination. The second source is the cannon visual artists who have added a unique perspective of how nature can be understood. An example of this would be when Cezanne painted his muse, Mont Sainte Victoire. Each time he offered a rendering of the mountain, he created a way in which people could view the mountain through fresh eyes. Cezanne produced breathtaking color and spatial compositions that rivaled the relevance of the subject matter, eliciting powerful emotions through his compositional skills.
This is what I am endeavoring to pursue with mosaic. I see mosaic as the juncture place of drawing, painting and sculpture. The grout lines act as drawing lines, creating depth perspective and the volume of form. I sculpt the individual pieces in order to form a painterly image. I have always sought out as many different ways as possible to approach mosaic. In working with glass shards, I push the medium in the directions of bas-relief, which is the fusion of sculpture and drawing. The convex and concave pieces taken from broken vessels and vases can be cut in such a way that their degree of convexity can determine how much of a topographic quality I want to add across the mosaic surface. The bas-relief can be used to assist in the rendering of an anatomical or landscape feature. For example, the convexity and concavity of the glass shards can recreate the effect of a rolling hill or the roundness of a shoulder as it connects with a torso. This can be taken to the extreme of creating fully dimensional free standing sculptural forms which are then jacketed in mosaic.
Through my choice of imagery, I infuse a narrative quality to my art. I am trying to consciously create art that I believe will uplift my audience. We as a people yearn for that which we can enjoy, and it is my aim to add to this collective whole.
One of the pleasures in working with mosaic is that I don’t have to stop at merely creating a way to represent the outside world. I can go so far as to use pieces of this world in my representations. The abundance of choices available material-wise is inspirational to me. I work with a range of semi-precious stones, minerals, and shells to add to the richness of the mosaic surface. I have choices as to whether I want to use a material for the beauty of its color and patterning, or I can choose to use a material because of its bas-relief qualities like a crystalline structure or a carved sphere. Often times, raised elements come out of the mosaic surface, adding to the overall texture of the piece. All of this plays into what I view as the most attractive feature of mosaic: That being its tactile quality. I like to think of my mosaics as being tactile paintings or sculptures. I would encourage the viewing public to handle my art and appreciate it on that level. Mosaic is a time-honored medium where there are endless opportunities for visual and tactile exploration.
Besides Cezanne, other artists who inform my art are Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, William Henry Johnson, Constantine Brancusi, Neil Welliver and Selim El-Sherif. They all offer such unique and clearly understood ways of representing the world around them. These artists created bodies of work that seem effortless in their innovative approaches to composing space and color.
This is what I am endeavoring to pursue with mosaic. I see mosaic as the juncture place of drawing, painting and sculpture. The grout lines act as drawing lines, creating depth perspective and the volume of form. I sculpt the individual pieces in order to form a painterly image. I have always sought out as many different ways as possible to approach mosaic. In working with glass shards, I push the medium in the directions of bas-relief, which is the fusion of sculpture and drawing. The convex and concave pieces taken from broken vessels and vases can be cut in such a way that their degree of convexity can determine how much of a topographic quality I want to add across the mosaic surface. The bas-relief can be used to assist in the rendering of an anatomical or landscape feature. For example, the convexity and concavity of the glass shards can recreate the effect of a rolling hill or the roundness of a shoulder as it connects with a torso. This can be taken to the extreme of creating fully dimensional free standing sculptural forms which are then jacketed in mosaic.
Through my choice of imagery, I infuse a narrative quality to my art. I am trying to consciously create art that I believe will uplift my audience. We as a people yearn for that which we can enjoy, and it is my aim to add to this collective whole.
One of the pleasures in working with mosaic is that I don’t have to stop at merely creating a way to represent the outside world. I can go so far as to use pieces of this world in my representations. The abundance of choices available material-wise is inspirational to me. I work with a range of semi-precious stones, minerals, and shells to add to the richness of the mosaic surface. I have choices as to whether I want to use a material for the beauty of its color and patterning, or I can choose to use a material because of its bas-relief qualities like a crystalline structure or a carved sphere. Often times, raised elements come out of the mosaic surface, adding to the overall texture of the piece. All of this plays into what I view as the most attractive feature of mosaic: That being its tactile quality. I like to think of my mosaics as being tactile paintings or sculptures. I would encourage the viewing public to handle my art and appreciate it on that level. Mosaic is a time-honored medium where there are endless opportunities for visual and tactile exploration.
Besides Cezanne, other artists who inform my art are Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, William Henry Johnson, Constantine Brancusi, Neil Welliver and Selim El-Sherif. They all offer such unique and clearly understood ways of representing the world around them. These artists created bodies of work that seem effortless in their innovative approaches to composing space and color.