Altars, armor, battleships, floats, repetition #2 Painting

Represented in Dallas by Ro2 Art. Born and raised in Texas, I received my B.Sc. from West Texas State University and my MFA from Texas Christian University. Following graduate school, I spent eight years teaching painting and drawing at the University of Manitoba School of Art in Canada. At that time, my work was primarily centered around installations that would literally fill the gallery. Soon after my return to Texas I put my art on hold and began painting large sets for stage productions and television. I returned to teaching for a few years and taught scenic painting in the theater department at Southern Methodist University. It wasn't until around 2002-03 that my interest in my own personal art began to slowly return. When you paint everyday as a scenic artist it is hard to go to your studio and paint without it reminding you of work. The separation of my every day job from my art was a constant struggle and finding a new voice was a long slow process. I spent endless hours looking at a broad assortment of images from different cultures - Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, China, and Japan. At the same time there developed an interest in the popular imagery used in street art, graffiti and full body tattoos. In addition I have always enjoyed the honesty and unassuming nature of outsider art and especially admired the work of James Hampton and his Throne of the Third Heaven. The artists from the book Gardens of Revelation by John Beardsley have also been a huge influence. Starting with photo copy images from all these various sources I began to cut up, enlarge, crop and tape together various bits and pieces of information in an attempt to create a new visual language of my own. Selected, then magnified, these images of feathers, bits of Van Gogh paintings, graffiti, tattoos etc. are carefully taped together to form a skin. I transfer these to various found or built objects and then paint to take on the appearance of elaborately patterned porcelain or cloisonné. These newly painted objects were bewildering to me but yet incredibly seductive. Transforming these found or recently built objects - in some cases dead tree roots removed from my back yard - seemed like an odd undertaking but necessary and intriguing as I continued to try and break from all my preconceived notions. Having found what has become a new voice the personal narrative has begun to slowly enter the work.