ve arrived at this current work by a bumpy, circuitous route. My first loves, Rembrandt and Cezanne, opened my eyes to painting and set me on course. Led more by visceral response than intellectual curiosity, I subsequently stumbled through the influences of divergent kinds of painting from often contradictory schools of thought. However, looking back, I see that the underlying link was my fascination with the elusive sensation of physical space, the kinesthetic response that paintings can provoke. For me, this obvious but uncanny link between touch and sight is basic to painting. Likewise, it is for no “better” reason than a sensation of buoyant instability that I am drawn to the circular format.

After working representationally for many years, eventually the subjects represented became less interesting than simply looking, observing the way perception unfolds an image over time. My goal became to make paintings that could keep a viewer’s attention without resorting to symbols or conscious references. Since then, particularly Mondrian and Pollack have provided invaluable guidance.

Presently, I apply a set of parameters which provides a scaffolding for my work. Three broad concepts undergird the process. First, schematic clarity, ie., a self-evident visual vocabulary that avoids arbitrary and accidental effects. Second, a non-hierarchical structure that allows all the elements to bear equal structural potential. This is why I use the primary colors, to prevent a hierarchy of color relations, to allow each color independent, equal visibility. Third, simultaneity, ie., to make more than one thing happen at the same time in the same space. This is potentially achieved by intersecting structures so this or that group of shapes can stand on its own or visually align with its constituent structures.

These paintings begin with a gesture that loops over, onto, into and through itself to create a “body” of overlapping movement similar to the curl of a wave. Carrying this gesture to the circle’s edge creates overlapping ripple effects that lay out a field of potential permutations. By necessity each painting accumulates many layers through multiple reworking. The textural accumulation across the surface becomes an important drawing method and is intrinsic to the clarification of the image. My intention is to make clear, concrete visual/tactile paintings that invite the viewer to participate in the not necessarily simple pleasures of looking.