Artist Statement

                                         ARTIST STATEMENT

While art continues to be my focus, I've also had a lifelong interest in cinema. There's something very personal about sitting in a darkened theater watching moving images on a screen, and the "willing suspense of disbelief". As a child, the movie house became a sort of Temple for me, where I could sit in silent reverence, gazing up at the larger than life movie gods. I do believe that film is the dominant art form of the 20th Century. When asked, "What is your favorite film?", I find that it's nearly impossible for me to come up with a succinct answer. It's like being asked to name my favorite piece of art. The list has simply grown too large. And it continues to grow. I do have a fondness for silent films though, I think because the storyline depended on pictures, and required little, if any exposition. As an artist, much of what I've been working on, draws from this visual library of cinematic images. The icons of early film continue to inspire and thrill me, as much as they did when I was very young. By wresting images from film, and translating these onto the painted surface, I hope to pay homage, and breathe new life into them, by giving them a new context and meaning. One reason, (among many, perhaps ) for choosing painting over film as an art form, is this: Film requires a collaboration of many talented people and a good deal of technology. The act of painting requires only myself, some paint, and a brush . I can enjoy complete creative control over a project. I like that.