Description:

“The work I have been engaged with over the past five years consists of large portraits and multi-panel drawings in charcoal and mixed media on paper. The portraits are of people who are real and people imagined. Because of their size I invariably arrive at an image that has enormous power. This is also due to the fact that I always ask my subjects to pose with a deadpan expression. They stare directly out at the viewer and even if one catches them out of the corner of one’s eye, one becomes aware of their “presence”. The next step in the process is to “rob” them of their power. I interfere with them by placing objects, symbols, cartoon images or icons on a grid in front of them. This brings an added dimension to the work and sets up a tension between the subject and the icons placed in front of it. Sometimes these interference devices take the form of dots or crosses on a grid or randomly placed images that don’t necessarily bear any relation to the subject. The subject then becomes separated from the objects in the foreground by a definite barrier. Sometimes the icons I choose start off as an abstract concept and then morph into something figurative…or vice versa. They may start off as a thing or a person and change into something unreadable. I enjoy the journey between these two states. During this process, the portrait becomes secondary or has no importance at all. I use just about every material that can be thrown at a piece of paper without hurting it. Collage plays an important role in this process – not collage in the traditional sense, for instance newspaper and printed matter, but oil paint on paper fragments. It enables me to employ collage using my own marks.”