ARTIST STATEMENT
I paint full bodies, singles figures, limbs entwined and merely shapes.
I paint as the French say, "corps à corps", "body to body". My body,
the body of work, and the bodies of each viewing participant merge in
sensuality, confrontation, and violence. Every move of my fingers
stands dynamically frozen in time -a fingerprint on painted bodies,
caresses that give each painting its story. My bodies are larger than
life. With deep eyes and finger-marked skin, they stare back, inquiring.
My medium is anything that is available. I do not like to limit myself
to specific materials, and I do not hold prejudices against or have
preferences for any given medium. I use everything, I mix and invent
new materials because the medium is part of the painting and its
creative process.
Many artists and writers have influenced my work, but most profoundly
the French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985). His beliefs remain true
for me today: artists are still under much pressure to conform, to
imitate, and to sell in order to survive. Alone in my studio, when
creating and painting, I work to express myself without any
interference from outside. I do not like anything to get in between the
canvas and me. I want the observer to feel the distance from society
and 'reality' that was crucial in conceiving the painting.
I strive to paint the body hidden beneath the skin. A body not yet able
to speak. I paint words that others do not dare to speak. My work is
simple, colorful, playful and accessible, and engages the senses. Yet
my paintings are confrontational. They look at you and oblige the
viewer to look and feel. They are reminders of life, of feeling and of
being alive. My paintings speak for themselves in a language they
invent; for this reason, I do not use titles. They are, as we are, in
these times of endings and beginnings witnesses to and evidence of our
time.