Statement on Current Work

Art that reflects learning and appreciation of traditional methods is what I am creating now. For several years I have been working on a series called 'In Congruence'. Each piece combines images painted in a classical European and Chinese style, on different planes. The main influences are Dutch and other European still life painting of the 16th & 17th century, and paintings of landscapes, seascapes, flowers and birds of the Tang and Sun dynasties. Juxtaposing eastern and western images and sensibilities, from centuries past, is a process that increases my understanding of the world and invokes a timeless quality of appreciation.

With the contrasting styles and images in each piece, I seek a peaceful coexistence. Though creating some tension for the viewer with the different images, communication between the images and the viewer's sense of beauty and meaning is intended. I desire to create works that instill a sense of harmony and unity. Sometimes, I combine images that appear incongruous together, and yet aspire to create congruence, partly through consonance of color and composition.

People ask, 'What is the meaning of (an object) in your painting?' I say the meaning of life can be found everywhere, from the secrets of the cosmos to the fruit on your table. Flowers and fruits, disdained in modem art partly for being too domestic and too feminine, are intended to display the sacred in the ordinary. There is a joy and awe to all experiences -- a cloud flowing overhead, the wind blowing through a tree -- if we carry such an awareness of life. Joy and peace are not out there but in our awareness and experience.

When depending on the five senses, I am aware of the physical world as the primary reality; and of distinctions, classifications, and separation as means of knowing and identifying. Yet, I seek to know, experience, and convey the world and life, in my art, as not involving separation. We came from one source and live on one planet. We share the air and water. Evoking a sense of unity is the main quest in my painting.