ARTIST STATEMENT

I approach the collage as a painting not a mere assembly of pictures. As I collect materials, they seem to connect individually or in groups and from those materials, I begin to see an interaction in space and form, arranging colors and shapes. Each added element will build on the previous one by changing, adding, or even result in eliminating the other components.

A successful collage requires a high degree of discrimination if the collage is not to degenerate into mere decoration, cliches, or a gaudy assembly of meaningless material. What you remove is as important as what you put into the composition. Sometimes I start with a theme or idea, but my collages are not preconceived, or predetermined and always change as I work. The materials are cut up and fragments are reassembled to create and transform the materials into a new pictorial reality, which like surrealism may result in a juxtaposition of several simultaneous, but unrelated realities.

I use hand-cut pieces, and color paper, along with transferred or print images, transfer rubbings, airbrush, gouache, pastel, gold leaf, and acrylic paint. The potential of the collage medium is infinite so one must explore and take full advantage of these possibilities. You must allow the work to evolve and transform until the work seems to emerge from the complex contradictions or similitude, and multiplicity of the forms, edges, textures, shapes, space, and even unrelated content.

Images might give visual information, but the inclusion of an image is not always the topic or meaning of the work. Ultimately, the images should influence the feelings that arise from the work.