Attempting to explain one’s art can be like trying to explain a sublime sunset. Words cannot fully describe it, nor do they measure up to the overall experience it offers.
I will try to describe how I came to create my art and what it means to me.
I am primarily self-taught, but the fine arts have been present in my life since my early childhood.
I remember accompanying my mother as a kid to the Art Department of Georgia State University, as if it were yesterday, and feeling transfixed by her work at the pottery wheel. Those memories and the importance placed on art in my childhood home shaped me and still influence my art today.My artistic process usually begins with a piece of music. James Brown’s funk or John Coltrane’s jazz usually does the trick. My hand dances up and down the page, the process is spontaneous, and for the most part, I have no preconceived idea of what the end result will be. It would be inaccurate to say that the process is unplanned, however. The images come from my past, and that past includes discovering the abstraction of Picasso, Miró, and Dali, as well as Basquiat’s raw genius. Other lucky discoveries include
Stieglitz’s evocative black and white monochromes, and Wolf and Leonard’s captivating compositions.
I hope my artistic vision delicately balances the myriad of influences I am under the spell of, both abstract and figurative.
