Artist Statement
As a child growing up on a farm I had many experiences of the unconscious. Some of these experiences were dreams and others were visualizations. The images constituted what I assumed to be private mythology, unrelated to the greater world, but this assumption later proved to be false. The business of growing upset these visions in the background until I entered university and was exposed to the work of the eminent psychologist C. G. Jung and in his ideas found that my childhood experiences had historical parallels and specific meanings. I became aware of the fact that each person is a potential conduit for expressing unique aspects of our cultural mythology and in 1984 turned seriously to art.
My paintings search for a place of union between inner experience and outer reality, a space where reality and the symbolic coexist, creating a simultaneity of the inner and outer worlds. These works explore the ability of the everyday object to captivate us and to convey a meaning beyond its apparent worldly one, providing the viewer an opportunity to relate to the irrational in human nature. They give voice to things the rational mind would like to exclude – the intense emotions, peculiar thoughts, sudden intuitions, and overwhelming sensations that come upon us in the wee hours, seeking our acknowledgment. At these times, something is communicated that is beyond our immediate understanding. These paintings are an attempt to distill and convey those impressions. They are a reaction to an intense moment of perception where reality broadens out and images appear that connect the seen and the unseen in new ways. Relationships and dynamisms are revealed that would otherwise remain hidden; alternate perspectives and new paths become possible. And since the images deal with essential aspects of our humanity, ultimately, they can become a point of departure and recognition for those contemplating their own unknown territory.