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Both of my parents were artists. So I grew up in a household with the sweet smell of turpentine, where the shelves were stocked with books about art, andthe walls were covered with paintings. My grandmother was the well-known painter Beulah S. Bowers.
I started seriously painting relatively late, around the age of twenty-five. Therefore, my art education has been subjective. I tend to read articles and books that relate to my practice. I have had one man shows in Paris and New York City, as well as Hamburg, Potsdam, and Freiberg in Germany. Various styles have marked my career. From early neo-expressionism to a post-modernist project called Anti-Action painting that produced a body of work of which I am very proud. My practice now consists of relatively large scale abstract paintings. I think they are among my best work.
My view is that fine art is a form of expression that works as a visual metaphor for a shared experience. My latest work is about a process not unlike jazz composition, action initiated over a familiar structure. The paintings also respond to place. My move to Florida has resulted in a greater emphasis on the depiction of light, and heightened the importance of color in my painting. Their scale takes advantage of the peripheral nature of composition. Each painting is allowed to feel its own way. There is a charge that builds with time that brings with it presence which is also a goal of my work.
Artist Statement
Color, light form, composition, and energy are qualities that are important to me as an artist. The deep well of memory, and the light and perspectives that attend color, give clarity to our own stories, and the compositions lend form to emotion.
It is important for the paintings to have layers as well; layers that contradict themselves visually, being both foreground and background. The work builds organically through a series of trials eventually coming together as a whole.
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