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 This body of work contains cartoon-like figures and representations used as fine art visual elements. They are combined with abstract expressionist brush work as a dynamic environment, causing them to float in a swirl of color and shape as though existing in the exotic atmosphere of another world. At times the cartoon images emerge to the forefront or recede to blend into the background. They alternately become part of, act in conflict with or would seem to exist without "awareness" of the abstract environment in which they are found. This creates visual tension and excitement by providing an energetic backdrop for the images to play against. In this setting the cartoon figures evoke unconscious or archetypal symbols. Like messages from the id of half-recalled creatures from a disturbing dream, they appear to emanate a conflicting, or at least uncertain emotional message: at once slightly menacing and yet pathetic, anxious but charges with intensity, showing both liveliness and lassitude. This is the ambivalent emotional soup that constitutes modern human reality. While media imagery and role models would have us cultivate or at least display singular emotional characters, I believe we all feel a nearly constant multiplicity of emotion that I feel cartoon characters can represent effectively. |
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 My paintings are primitive in style, By abstracting my images in this way the works are less literal and more open to individual interpretation. Personally, I am interested in representing relationships between the worlds of spirit (cosmic force) and reason (earthly concerns). I choose to use encaustic, an ancient medium of color pigment mixed with wax. It is painted while in a melted form and hot. Depending upon the heat used in the final fusing (reheating) process, the surface texture are achieved. The hardened wax can be carved like wood and objects can be embedded in the paint providing the opportunity to use a variety of materials in each painting. I am a self-taught woodworker and like to add carved panels and cut-out shapes to my free-formed constructions. I scavenge old pieces of wood because of their unusual colors and shapes. These are burned, painted or left in their raw state to frame the larger images. |
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 Recently, I have been inspired by the journals and artistic works of the intrepid natural history discoverers and collectors of the latter few centuries (Alburtus Seba, James Audubon, Charles Darwin and so forth). It was in reviewing an assortment of these wondrous works that I embarked on a creative exploration of my own in which I compiled a collection of illustrations, 'field notes', 'artifacts', and 'specimens' from a far-off, imaginary land I call HapiLani. My work has always been about bringing more smiles into this world. And this land I have invented is a place I want to help people (both children and adults) visualize as real. The way I see it, if I can get people to accept that there is a possibility that alternate existence's *could* be real, by proving it with my 'scientific notes' and 'cultural discoveries' - then maybe I can open them up to helping that happen a little more here in this world. |
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 My pictures are centered around everyday living and everyday spirituality. The work looks into the quest for finding some sort of spiritual sense in our existence. I use varied religious icons because we are exposed to varied religious images and beliefs. Sometimes I mix up the icons with each other to show how that exposure is also influencing our different beliefs. I put strange mythic creatures in my work to reflect the strangeness of what we believe. In contrast, these creatures are enshrined or housed in weather beaten urban industrial structures that exist and reflect what we see on a daily basis, But remain unnoticed. Our odd desire for searching out our spiritual side coupled with our odd desire to industrialize makes for a kind of split personality in us. It is hard to live in both places, and kind of funny that we do. My hope is to draw a person in with these contrasting elements, and give them a kind of spring-board into their own sense of spirit. |
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 Painting is a life experience. It defines who you are, what you see, think and feel. My work plays with nostalgia, pop, and humor combining the past and present to create a contemporary edge. The use of text in my paintings is a way into intimacy to bring the viewer into my world. I like to use strong colors that play well with each other, while at the same time offset the painting with a color that creates some tension. In my most recent works, I have added 60’s cartoon and comic book imagery underneath the painting surface, while using glittery mediums on top of the surface reflecting today’s hip culture image. The use of the silhouette has now appeared in my paintings, a form of art that predates the comic book imagery, yet also ties in with the latter, reminding us of our past. |
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