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Floral still life has been the primary theme in my work since 1993. Instead of a representational approach, however, I prefer an abstracted, "architectonic" view of my subject. I paint on constructions made of found wood and panels made of new wood (usually birch), sometimes using techniques borrowed from printmaking. I also create works on paper, including self-published prints. I create imagery by drawing with architects' tools (such as a french curve) and by collaging found elements from old books, magazines, postcards, and the like. I frequently use images from early 20th century books on mechanical drawing and engineering (a personal connection to my late father, about stories of paths not taken.) Formal concerns predominate over symbolic or emotional ones, informed by Minimalism and Pop, with a nod to Dada. Tactility and an obsession with surface are evident in all my work: encaustic-like waxy acrylic paint on found-wood constructions; sticky and mottled passages on lithographic monotypes; and matte and almost-porous-looking surfaces on found-paper collages. This ongoing body of work dealing with the flower form has evolved slowly over the years. Initially there were gridded, tiled photo-collages of blurry photos of flowers and vegetation. Later I began using a 4-lobed shape, which had emerged in my sketchbook while I was researching Japanese popular culture for an unrelated project. With this 4-lobed shape I have created varied explorations in abstraction of the flower form over several years: by repetition, by enlargement, by fragmentation, by slivering into a shadow of itself, by tipping patterns back into perspective space to suggest landscape, among others. More recently I began using found diagrams and photos of gears and other mechanical parts to suggest floral still life. Another recent development is a new form resembling a beehive -- which itself refers to an evolution of a flower's essence -- but is actually proportioned on the spires of the shrines at Angkor Wat in Kampuchea, and so re-connects my work to architectural ideas. More recent still is my discovery of the wonders of vintage floral wallpaper, which I have begun incorporating as an element using collage techniques. Also new is a form resembling a comma or apostrophe which is actually informed by the paisley shape, which I found during my hunt for old wallpaper. In my sketchbook the paisley shape slowly morphed into this stylized, comma-shape form. A visitor to my studio remarked that the form adds a reference to language in my floral abstractions. A few notable influences on my work are my training as a printmaker, my love of architecture and the built environment (which began during my boyhood in Chicago) and my appreciation of ephemera or anything old and printed. Artists whose work I respond most strongly to include Donald Sultan, Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin and Joseph Cornell.
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