Yellow hibiscus in the sun

The self-imposed task of writing an artist’s statement is a daunting one. It demanded that I carefully look over my entire body of work, trying to find the common thread that runs through my work. At least for me, there is a fine line between figuration/representation and abstraction. I have always considered myself a representational artist, and, indeed, even the abstractions in my body of work started with representational images that led to other ideas and made me think of what appear to be abstract compositions. I have never felt comfortable with explaining my abstract images – I would prefer the viewer make up his/her own mind as to what the images represent. Isn’t that really what abstraction is all about? Obviously, when looking over my body of work, it would suggest that my interests lie in anatomical/biological/mechanical, as well as botanical, subject matter. One might also feel that I have a weird interest in death. I feel life and death are interrelated – all life stems from death – in a never ending cycle. In my current work, although it would seem to be about life, as living plants would represent life, I never fail also to depict the dead flowers and plants that are part of the whole.