OVERVIEW
These
artworks fall into three categories: abstracts, photographic-based
works and video art; sometimes these divisions overlap. The dominant
medium used for the first two is the archival pigment print. Regardless
of category, all are by design open to interpretation, each work
given the freedom to speak for itself.
“Individuality
of expression is the beginning and end of all art.” |
—
Goethe |
Following
rules and conventions, emulating other artist’s styles
or being associated with schools, groups, trends, or movements
have been eschewed in pursuit of abintra creativity. It is this
liberating independence from what is expected, hot, current,
or commercial that affords me true, total freedom of artistic
expression.
On a virtual
tabula rasa I lay down intuitive mind’s eye imagery and
ex-perimental treatments of photographic works. Because
my prints are almost always multi-layered or multi-paneled,
often incorporating video-processed imagery, I consider myself
more of a digital print maker than a fine art photographer.
The print works bifurcate into abstracts and the Zen-influenced
Koan Series. Many of the abstracts are unique in that
video feedback, a process exploited by video art pioneer Nam
Jun Paik, played a significant role in their creation. Video
art works vary from the purely abstract, accompanied by soundtracks
of electronic tonalities, to
highly structured narrative compositions with original scores.
“Modern
art must of necessity remain in the state of experimental
research if it is to have any significance at all.” |
—
Marsden Hartley |
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ABSTRACTIONS
Experimentation
and imagination provide the springboard for these compositions.
Using intuition and enthusiasm for the mind’s-eye image
— brief and fleeting — the basic idea processes through
a fusion of video, electronic transmogrification, photography,
and extensive hands-on digital brushwork. The result is a final
print that works visually and registers emotionally. Many works
were self-revealing in that they evolved into something quite
different than originally conceived — the work itself guiding
me toward a surprising conclusion.
“
'What does that represent?' has no meaning.” |
—
Fernand Leger |
Through
the abstracts one can glimpse cosmic ruminations where completely
unknown forces are at play. Natural phenomena such as elements
of light, clouds, water and earth merge with video-generated
forms, fractal imagery and digital brush strokes to reach toward
the ineffable. The new Bardo Series features high energy
fractals superimposed over multi-layered video feedback backgrounds.
This series was inspired by levels of being and states of consciousness
rooted in Tibetan Buddhism. Explorations of time, space and
place, energy and imagination influence the directions of both
the abstract compositions and the Koan Series.
In an effort to leave interpretation wide open, all works are
deliberately untitled. Print sizes vary with the largest being
44 x 60 inches. Many are of a numbered, limited edition series;
some are one-of-a-kind.
PHOTOGRAPHIC-BASED WORKS
These
works are about impressions, relationships, remembrances and
pure chance. The in-progress Koan Series is composed
of arrangements of original photographs, artwork and the odd
appropriated image. Some are formatted into an irregular grid
structure. These compositions can contain as few as two and
as many as a dozen or more component images. I have always been
intrigued by Zen’s mystique and its promise of transcendence
and certain Zen ideas seem to resonate with my existential view
of the universe. The koan is not unlike an insoluble
puzzle. Its purpose is to throw one completely off balance mentally,
for an instant, and in that moment induce a flash of enlightenment
and transcendence. My approach is to use the principle of the
koan as an influence by combining diverse images in
balanced, intuitive, visually compelling compositions.
“We
are not here to do what has already been done.” |
—
Robert Henri |
As
digital photographic collages, the Koan (Japanese for
puzzle) Series encourages intuitive contemplation beyond
the surface of what we see. This series subdivides into two additional
categories: Tatemono (architectural) and Ganseki
(rock). The former melds buildings from all over the planet in
intriguing compositions; the latter features pan-cultural faces,
masks and images from across the ages transparently layered over
time-worn rock formations. As these long-gone visages gaze out
upon you, the living, you may find yourself contemplating your
own mortality. Allow these works as well as the abstracts to jolt
your mind into a new state of awareness. Let them confound conventional
thinking and transcend mundane interpretation.
In
the Portraiture Gallery are displayed some examples of
video and digitally enhanced portraits produced from the
1980s up to the present. People often wear masks that
change instantaneously depending upon what and whom they
face at any given moment. The Personae series
attempts to reveal the myriad masks that dominate human
interaction.
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The
World Trade Center - A Photographic Study
is included solely as a memorial to the victims of the
9/11 attacks. If that devastating day had not occurred,
these now haunting images would most likely remain as
unprinted 35 mm slides stored in my image library. In
the 1980s I was captivated by the twin towers of the New
York World Trade Center. These architectural behemoths
appeared massively imposing yet elegant — and impossibly
tall. I was drawn to photograph them repeatedly day and
night at different times of the year. Using various lenses
and transparency films including infrared, I attempted
to capture the surreal essence of these giants.
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VIDEO
ARTWORKS
.
. . range from pure abstractions, The
Video Life Form Series, to ambient video works, Retinal
Circus, to art / music videos, Out of Dream, Message
from Space, Aging Rockers, and Theme from 'Le
Sacrifice.' Some video works, originally produced in the
1980s, are undergoing restoration, reediting, and massive revision.
In the following decade I created Bent Cross, a pure
stream-of-consciousness video based on the overwhelming power
of religion and cultural conditioning on the human race. Out
of Dream has recently been fully restored, re-edited
and extensively enhanced as Out of Dream V2.0. It and
Aging Rockers V2.0 are currently being entered in film festivals
internationally. New video art works are in production.
“The
nature of really serious art is that you don't know what
you're looking at. You're impressed by some quality or bothered
by some quality. You don't know it's why it's the way it
is or how it came to be that way.” |
—
Robert Storr
MOMA, NY
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