Artist Statement

Art is not created within a mental vacuum. It is shaped by what has preceded it and the world and time in which the artist lives. By absorbing these influences, and adding to them, something new is created. For me, these influences have been extensive and have incorporated a conglomerate of movements and artistic works. They have, in turn, become my own and have become part of my contemporary view of the world. I paint pictures that reflect something of the human condition. This concept has largely been my focus and is central to my body of work. The “city” is my source, notably the cities of the Maritimes, and in particular Saint John, N.B. and the complexity of urban living. The physical settings for all my work are from drawings I have made of these urban landscapes, often altered, modified and changed to fit the composition of the painting. Having said that, hopefully, my paintings go beyond this scenario, and project a universality portraying the human condition. The human experience encompasses a vast collection of physical and emotional states, both positive and negative. These are qualities reflected in varying degrees in all my work. We are surrounded by signs and symbols which we react to in a variety of ways. Some we understand, whereas some are vague. It is this vagueness which perhaps reflects something of what it means to be human, and possibly, arrives at some sort of truth. Life is not a sitcom with a problem resolved within a thirty minute screening and neither are my paintings.