Biography

I am an artist, born in Kentucky, and currently living in East Tennessee.

Artist’s Statement

I like experimenting with many mediums and subjects, but I specialize in watercolor and egg tempera representations of people. I take an iconographic view of art - both in the narrow sense (traditional Byzantine iconography) and in a broader sense. This is informed by my clinical practice inasmuch as I am fascinated with people.

Ancient people had a different metaphysical world than we do in modern times. We think of an "icon" as simply a symbol or representation - it's a picture that reminds us of something somewhere else. But to the ancients, an icon actually captures something deeper than that. When we look at an icon, the essence of the person depicted is made present to us. The icon remains paint and wood, but it serves as a window. The subject is actually present.

This is what I hope to capture in my representations, whether it is pop art, portraits, or nude figures.

I don't think it's a coincidence that my favorite pop artist, Andy Warhol, was Orthodox (Byzantine Catholic) and was very intimately familiar with icons.

It's a way to bridge that existential loneliness we all experience - there are infinite gulfs between us, but somehow those spaces tighten and diminish when we experience the essence of another person in our heart. They are made literally present to us.

I don't really like landscapes or animals or monsters or depicting things for purely aesthetic value. It has to be about human nature somehow. I don't even really depict stories.

A face. An expression. Eyes. A figure without pretense or barrier. A snapshot. A memory.

Maybe sometimes that's more clear than other times in my work, but it's always there.