JOINT ARTIST STATEMENT

At first glance, our artwork appears to have little in common. It would probably never be shown together in a typical commercial gallery situation. One body of work explodes with color and patterning rendering a complex primitive world, while the other is riveted with mark-making and color harnessed by a more classical western tradition.

As different as our artwork may be, however, similar motivations guide us as artists. We find beauty and meaning in each others’ work, and are each others’ enthusiastic supporters. Our ongoing dialogue about materials, about colors and textures, and about the pursuit of meaning through art, informs the artwork that we each do. That dialogue is also a counterpoint to the  solitude and loneliness inherent in the process of creating art. Painting is a way for each of us to express our ferocious need for  individuality, and our individual interior journeys. But we also feel an intense longing to connect with others through our unique creative expressions. One individuality juxtaposed to and confronted by another, allows for the possibility of a greater journey that is both within us and between us. Our process of visual dialogue is sometimes joyful, sometimes difficult and anxiety-provoking.

Keenly interested in this greater journey, we each consider our art to be spiritual in nature. We are hopeful that seeing the often complex or chaotic surface of what we paint is only the beginning of a process of traveling inward and downward toward underlying forms and harmonies.

We invite you to decide whether our work “goes together,” and are curious whether your own exploratory process mirrors ours and whether this leads to a sense of  Mystery greater than any one of us can propose as individuals. Can we embrace individual voices collectively and find a common ground? And is that process an antidote to individuals or groups that insist that they know the truth and will defend it at all costs?