One of the many functions of art is to play commentary
to issues and concerns of the culture within which it is made. Also,
present in a work of art should be some perspective or observations
of the artist making it. I have, as an artist, a responsibility to
make those observations somehow personal and unique. Of even greater
importance, I must make the work “beautiful” in some way,
be it in concept, material, or both. I seek to create tension between
the immediately frivolous appearance of the imagery and a deeper tone
of serious concern that faces me as an artist, educator and member
of a greater society.
For my art to be truly vital, I feel that it must
somehow connect to and speak of concepts that are greater than me
alone. I often use images from childhood within my work, calling to
mind a time in life when judgment and values were forming and an outlook
on the world was still plastic and changeable. Images from childhood
also call to mind, for me, a time of greater security and sense of
being protected, a feeling disturbingly absent in recent times of
uncertainty. It is this state of child-like curiosity that I search
for in my work, where all actions are a discovery of some new mystery.
Layers of meaning, under scrutiny, fall away to reveal deeper motives;
playful objects become metaphors for current concerns. By recycling
images from childhood (toy soldiers, rubber ducks, model planes, tanks
and boats) I seek to create a dialog that addresses my current concerns,
from violence in childhood toys to paralyzing fears of being left
unprotected and defenseless in an angry world. I hope that, when viewing
my work, peeling away layers of light-hearted imagery will slowly
excavate and expose the more serious subject matter.
Inspired by high-impact artists such as Robert
Arneson, I strive to create a dynamic tension between the serious
motivating concepts and the naïve, child-like subject matter
and images. The work, when done well, can be both threatening and
playful at once, a classic dichotomy encountered in daily life. Like
an abandoned toy that works it’s way to the surface of some old
sandbox in a child’s backyard, the more serious issues become
obvious only after the initial friendly surface begins to wear off.
(updated Feb. 2002)
