Yes, it's a cliche to say so, but I think artist's statements are kind of irrelevant. Who you are, what you were thinking, these are the two least relevant things to any piece of work, period. Wasn't this established beyond a doubt like twenty years ago? And artspeak just drives me nuts, what twaddle. But since I am p'sposed to have one in order to appear legitimate:

All is ornament, unable but to generate consciousness via entertainment. It couldn't give a damn one way or the other what happens; it's just like liquid, which can only penetrate every crevice, wind following every eddy. It certainly doesn't require any of our efforts, as it has no goal, other than perhaps sleep, so nothing we do can call itself "important", so just get over it. And, fine and all to have a lovely theory, but if it isn't in the work, then so what about all the books you read; if you were "thinking" when you made the painting then it's probably about ego, something I already get quite enough of at home.

I don't make paintings to celebrate my current realizations; I make things to add to my permanent collection, to goose me, in all the ways I wanna be goosed, and especially in ways I haven't discovered yet. I already have more than I have room to hang, but I like making them, so the rest are for sale. My ideal placements would be in the offices of therapists and healers, spas, yoga studios, or in the lobbies of offices, or hotel rooms, places where people are doing something other than looking at Art. Over your couch is just fine; thanks, I'm flattered. I don't want my work to monopolize attention or dominate a room; I'd more rather that it influence or tune the environments where it's placed, bring out the entirety of the context, expand like an aroma into unmet memories. Unfashionable keywords: decorative, psychedelic; if I have to make it look vaguely floral or landscape-y to accomplish that, well who cares. Any excuse to justify buying more paint and messing around with it for hours and hours, full-contact meditation, what a blast.

Here, let's make it simple: I want my paintings to make you trip a little.

another version
and another
further trivial remarks on Art
and one to grow on

Thanks always to Ronna Snyder (Sierra Nevada College, 1981); I guess I probably would have become a painter anyways, but she body-checked me back into the groove on more than one timely occasion. Thanks also to Peter Cooper for starting that wonderful school; who knows what fate that diverted me from. Still no idea quite which one it diverted me into, but as of March 2004 I have moved to Baltimore: I have a nice huge room just for painting, and I am so digging it.

see also my paper on Narcissism and Culture.

DJ - Computer Graphics - Paintings - Miscellaneous