Since I was a very young man, I was interested in conjuring forth form my imaginings, the dark places I would visit in my mind and the characters I would meet along the way. Drawing and painting for me was less of conscious choice. It was a compulsion. I have always considered art making the most effective way of telling stories. I’m very interested in storytelling. I’ve studied the collective mythos of the world in an attempt to better understand where these images come from and discover the root of all storytelling. Through art making I grow ever closer to weaving the story whilst pulling on the threadbare tapestry of my own psyche and personal mythology.
Using both drawing and painting I have been able to create landscapes and distant terrains, creatures, Gods, monsters, heroes and villains. I have in the past endeavored to create an inner pantheon as a cast of characters for larger paintings. This has served as the foundation of my storytelling. Once these characters where actualized I could weave the stories around them. I paint scenes of the subconscious, of stories unfolding, our stories. Stories of the dark places of the human mind. Uncontrolled desire, compulsion, addiction, envy, rage, the bits of humanity that brought down the mightiest of the Gods.
Here I found that drawing and painting could only take me so far. Painting could, and has captured, frozen, the scenes of these human shortcomings and weaknesses but lacked the essential drama that could bring greater identification from the viewer. I would draw upon my other great passion, puppetry. By using object-based theater, I am better able to personify the undesirable human characteristics that interest me so. By incorporating installation, I am able to push the “screen” of traditional puppetry, and theater and bring this “humanity” offensively close to the viewer.