Since the mid 1990ís I have focused solely on creating still life paintings. My interest is enduring because of powerful questions still life confronts. A still life is selected and arranged by the artist. It refers to itself and to its creator, exploring and embodying the artificiality of art. This brings up questions fundamental to art makingóchoice, interpretation, invention, and notions of reality.

Painting is a question: painting is not an answer. Painting is a process, a method, an exercise. Paint on canvas no longer represents the creation of artist's eye. The sight of image on my canvas represents digital eye. It is the dialogue among and between naked eye and electronic eye - this is what is important.

These paintings are part of a series called ìAmerican Mythsî. Mythology describes a world full of magic. It also lays out a peopleís assumptions about themselves and the world. I base these paintings on old photographs. When I see them, I wonder what the stories are: Who are these people and what are they doing? I want to maintain that sense of mystery as I paint. Sometimes I stray from the photos as little as possible, just enough to change the context. Other times I change them a lot to make new stories. I want to include the good with the bad, the hopeful with the fearful.

This recent body of work was inspired by my ongoing interest in peoplesí complex perceptions of the natural world. I am intrigued with my own dramatic and fantastical expectations of nature, and I question the degree to which one can be informed and misinformed via wild representations.

 My creative efforts focus on activating the boundaries of optical experience, digging into the relationship between perception and the limitations of memory. I cultivate a veiled, inscrutable aesthetic to accentuate nuance and destabilize apprehension.