Arabesque and Field Paintings

For a several years now I’ve been working in two series, Arabesque paintings and Field paintings. The arabesque works have curvy, linear ribbon-like shapes suggestive not only of intertwining vines and leaves but also of things like the vascular and neural formations in our bodies, subatomic collisions, interstate interchanges, and the vast nets of dark matter thought to serve as scaffolding for all matter in the universe. They feel contemplative. Maybe because they feel active and still at the same time.

The field paintings are less structurally active. They’re quieter. The stillness feels inviting. They make me think about the one field of existence in which everything exists. Sometimes, the field paintings contain an archway, which has always felt to me like a place of transit between realms of existence or states of awareness.

Still, when I’m painting these paintings, I don’t set about to illustrate any of those ideas, nor am I trying to symbolize anything. I’m not a follower of any particular religion and I don’t have any such message to convey. I’m just painting what feels right. What feels true for me. In doing so, these structures keep recurring. I don’t plan them so much as they grow out of painting. It’s an organic process.