Intersections (Artist Statement)

This work grows out of a series of questions that have formed in me during recent years. The questions have to do with dichotomies of the human experience (e.g. love and hate, peace and war, fullness and emptiness, etc.). Although these realities oppose each other, they share space in the world; and they share space in me. In the beginning I asked how such powerful paradoxes could exist. The larger force of my work, however, gained momentum after shifting my attention to explore how they affect one another through their proximity and inevitable encounter.

In the world of color, opposites on the color wheel are blue and orange, red and green, purple and yellow. Combining opposing paint colors while still wet results in a mucky brown. If, however, opposing colors are set side by side instead of mixed, the result is often a powerful visual interaction that is frequently surprising. After realizing how thoroughly these color interactions held my attention, I poured all my creativity into exploring them, taking my questions of paradox with me into the work. The pieces hanging in this exhibition are some of the results of that journey.