“Light Upon the Precipice!” • 78in x 50in. Medium Fractal Flame collage. (Varied editions will be available.)
A lot has happened since my last blog post. My art has been selling at national art fairs, and the response to my work has been emotionally gratifying. This is why I do fine art. When I had my first solo show at the Pacific Design Center in West Los Angeles, the gallerist asked me what my artist statement was? I replied, "I am not in this for the money. I only want to make people happy." He shrugged but was helpful and showed me several artist statements from some famous artists he represented. It was very educational but did not help. I am not process-oriented, I wish I were, but I am not. I admire artists who make art that way. For instance, Winslow Homer used to draw dozens of sketches and studies until he nailed all he wanted to convey. Then he started the final painting. In my opinion, even his oil studies were finished paintings. Process-wise, I am not that guy.
The best way to describe what I do and how I make my art is a term called: Serendipity. (A brief definition of that word is "to discover by mistake.") I don't start with an idea or ideas like Homer; I start with shapes. I work in a digital format that allows me to take patterns from nature and mix them up to make strange forms. Then, like a child staring up at the clouds in the sky, I imagine them into fundamental or phantasmal compositions that excite me and hopefully others. Then I compose them in an image editing program into what I imagined what they looked like.