Artist Statement - Transition

Paul Cézanne was the first to theorize about a new function for painting, saying that the artist should not be confined to imitating reality but should create a new reality. For me, as an artist with strong traditionalist roots and a love for the beauty found in imitating reality, this has been my greatest challenge. To offer a different visual experience that embraces all the qualities that I love about painting has not been an easy journey, and it is far from complete, but I now know that Cézanne was right.

With this body of work spanning the last three and half years, I have made attempts to resist the controlled, cerebral impulses that are in part the result of my artistic training and have tapped into deeper, more visceral instincts. Although at first I felt guilty that I may be abandoning my roots, I was surprised to find that in fact, I could not proceed without them. Like the layers of a pearl, the fruits of my labour could only take shape upon what had come before. I have also come to realize that my painting is always in transition, always shifting between our reality and the realities that we seek. And under no circumstances does this mean I have become an “abstract” painter; who knows, perhaps at the end of my journey, I’ll return to where I started, transitioning yet again into a new reality.

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