Artist Statement

The impetus to create my latest work came in the form of a diagnosis in February of 2006. I was diagnosed with a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. I have always had an interest in the uncontrollable forces of nature and the impact they have on individual people and all of us as a whole, as is reflected in my earlier work. Faced with the diagnosis of my illness, I was emboldened to embark on a series with even less restraint.

The first series entitled Magic Mountain had only the size dimensions premeditated. It was important for me to have a looseness with the materials, being watercolor and ink, to allow the paint to travel naturally. I desired to be in a space where mistakes do not exist and evolving forms begin as mysteries. Both the materials themselves and the working method have an undeniable connection to not only Asian art practices but with the automatic tendencies of Surrealism. With the title “Magic Mountain” itself there is of course a tie to the Thomas Mann novel of the same name. The setting of the novel takes place in an isolated area of Southern Germany within the wild of uncontrollable nature. People considered terminally or acutely ill where placed there in the hopes of being cured. They accustomed themselves to the rhythms of external nature, which they had as little control over as their own internal illness. This German Romantic interest in the relationship between man and nature is not out of place with both Asian and Surrealist art. Asian art’s focus on nature and the individual inspired many 19th century Western art and Surrealist concerns with the inner workings of man can be seen in some ways as an extension of Romanticism.

The second series Flora Botanica and the third series Single Cell Flower were approached working in the same way with the same materials though on a smaller scale. Here in some of the pieces there is somewhat more of a direct representation of natural forms. The physical limitations enacted by the cancer are manifested in the physicality of the paint application in both series. After having completed these three connected series it is clear that the paintings had become an unconscious way of dealing with my illness. Not only does this work represent an interest in the forces of nature but also the forces within my own body. Therefore the pieces can be seen to function as illness as visual metaphor. Weakness due to the cancer makes the art making process difficult, but I feel it is simultaneously reinforcing and asserting the images made.

Single Cell Flower