About

 

What has always interested me was the relationship between architecture and sculpture. Historically sculpture has been a support to architecture however, painters and printmakers were free from the confines of the physicality of the object and ventured into arrangements of architectural elements which often had ambiguity and irrational juxtapositions and theatrical lighting in Baroque Painting etc. This resulted in metaphysical qualities, with works of artists like Escher and the countless ambiguous staircases and the blind endings.  There are  echoes of this kind of metaphysical feeling  in the works of De Chirico and  Piero della Francesca who's paintings always have this strange ‘quietness’ and 'stillness' which transcends the human images included in the architectural settings. Even in Mannerist and Baroque Architecture there are all these same elements of blind stairways  and  other illusionistic and theatrical devices.

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I have admired Busby Berkeley's  movies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley . The wonderful rhythmic geometric arrangements of both dancers and stage settings with the stairs often as a central focus and  where all action takes place with its visual flowing elements and geometric forms. 

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I have been  interested in what I see as  ‘expressive geometry’ where forms are arranged in visual motion (static but implied moving). My early work is exemplified by a more formal (expressive) geometry and later works (post USA) with casting techniques, as organic forms were supported by geometric structures which had a Baroque like sensibility.

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The current  works (2020 onwards) are like capsules of theological/human  feelings made concrete in sculptural/architectural form.

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Extract from Glen Nelson Interview for The Season

 

Glen Nelson who lives in NYC and produces an LDS Arts eMagazine: The Season. When interviewing me Glen asked:

 

"These are works whose titles draw from scripture and comments about life. As a religious person, how does your faith find its way into your art?

 

When I enter my studio, I often pray for grace. The 18th Century composer, Johann Sebastian Bach had thoughts about God’s grace: “Where there is devotional music, God’s grace is always present.” I’m not sure if Bach was referring to the presence of grace in himself or his audience. But in an attempt to add some enabling ability to my making, I seek grace through prayer and strive to create visual poetry. Does it always work? No. I don’t expect the Lord to grant me ‘perfection’, rather to help me join with Him in the godly gift of creation. I have a shared testimony with Michelangelo who said, “I work out of love for God, and I put all my hope in (with) Him.”

When I am about to make a work, I am not consciously clear about anything. I often sit and look out of my studio into the mangroves opposite. In the past decade I have been reflecting more and more on my mortality (I’ve had cancer twice in six years) and I am stimulated by the depth and breadth of the Plan of Salvation. This reflection has been wonderfully fruitful for the images, ideas and deep feelings it consistently yields. I believe my religious beliefs are so embedded in my total being that inevitably they become the focus/heart of my work. I also believe that as I have progressed over the years, the different parts of my identity have become much more harmonious and centred.

From an abstract and responsive beginning, each work unfolds intuitively. At the same time my mind remains occupied with the questions and ponderings of the time. The work, therefore, relatively unconsciously explores the complexities of those ideas, until a central cluster of ideas becomes apparent in the work. The work’s title reflects that central focus.

Making visual art by this intuitive and reflective method ensures that the work is fundamentally connected to one’s senses and emotions, subsequently challenging the mind to unpack those responses in light of the symbols evident in the work and the title it is given. I hope that this approach opens one’s soul to the potential for personal spiritual experience."