My paintings are not preconceived and have no explicit meaning. Rather, they emerge from an intuitive and contingent working process. I attempt to discover what it takes for an abstract picture to transcend the tyrannies of design and the bromides of gesturalism. I am searching for the moment when a peculiar and satisfying internal logic emerges. The intersection of illusion and abstraction is a rich place to operate, where spatial clues, shadows, and color transparencies define invented forms. Fabric layers and cut-outs create a collage-like surface in which foreground and background are constantly switched and recoded. Both anxiety and play infuse the process, which often culminates in a kind of fixed visual overload. I want to allow multiple, contradictory readings of the images, thus isolating the difficulty and pleasure of extended looking. Ultimately, the paintings serve as mute memorials to experiences we cannot fully recall or comprehend.