Artist Statement January, 12 2012
Flowers
Ever since the Cave paintings, all the way to the early 15 and 16th century, artist have been producing images of flowers and plants and using them as symbolism. Plant symbolism was used as a method of teaching religious truth, for example Ivy was symbolic of eternal life. There are many Artists known for being indentified with a particular flower, Van Gogh had his Sunflowers and Monet has his Water Lilies, Georgia O’Keeffe had her Calla Lilies. There were the other great flower painters such as Fantin Latour, we must not forget Brueghel and Ruysch of the Dutch School of Painting.
Flowers convey symbolism in the human spirit; the Red Rose is and has been for a long time a symbol of Love and passion. The yellow Rose gives a feeling of joy and friendship. Pink is known to represent happiness. Flower painting took off in the 17-19th centuries conveying a message that the delights of this world are fleeting and perishable.
I paint flowers in the classical style as opposed to the impressionists’ although I may change as I wish. I do this because of my training from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
I emphasize the creative aspect of a flower and not the botanical characteristic. I do this because I believe that it is more challenging to paint what one cannot observe and make flora believable. It is my artistic doctrine that an artist interpretation is more important than the “Visual Voice” of Mother Nature.
It must be noted, I like Monet, have been highly influenced by flowers from Mother Nature. During my years of life in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, it was common to drive around the park and experience a field of Crimson or Yellow or Violet and others over 100 meters wide and deep at the same time. Anyone who has visited the park in the spring months will have had the visual experience. It is for these moments and because of the greats and the ages they exist from I follow in their footsteps. Yet it is prevalent that my floras come from a very loose botanical interpretation. The visual creation is based upon the imagination somewhere along the lines of Dali or the Surrealists. It is also my belief that art should be based upon creativity and originality and an influx of the “visual self”.
I was was a participant in ARTEXPO 2011.
Moons in strange banana shape, blood flowing as tear drops from the eyes of unforeseen beings. It – is me “these flowers”. Vessels of bouquets of flora of yet unaligned species, this world I create is a cloistered vision from the heart of a child of the make-believe. A vision of an individual who cares not to exist in the world of reality, yet in a world of the possibilities of not what is,-/ but what may certainly be.
Profile
As an Artist who grew up in Philadelphia I am somewhat self trained. I earned a Bachelors of Fine Art from The University of Pennsylvania in 1995. Also a CFA / MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I traveled to the western United States specifically, Yellowstone and Teaton National Parks. While living there I fell in love with the Rocky Mountain Wild Flower.
See the link -- Yellowstone National Park.com and go to the page,,,,,""Flowers"" and click each page to get an idea of the variety and imagine the visual impact.
Upon return to Philadelphia I painted wild flowers from photograph. I copied flowers till I grew tired of the process of copying what I saw with a camera. Then, I started to work at creating flowers without a visual "Prop".
