Presage of Peace, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 60 x 1 inch, 2008
The Abstract Landscape Series
Using the color and energy from my abstract work, my landscape paintings are concerned with creating a vision of an active, beautiful and inspiring nature. My use – and emphasis – of bright colors found in nature demonstrates this as well. There is an aspect of mystery in the interpretation of the shapes in my landscapes. As the artist, I know what I intended others to see in the forms, and how I interpret them. But the audience may see them in different ways. This creates interest as the viewer imagines different things and tries to understand the landscape visually.
This series reflects my spiritual connection with nature, and my belief that the earth and the natural world should be included in our sacred values and treated with respect. As times evolve, our worldviews must adapt as well, including spirituality of our age that could encompass recognizing the energy, intrinsic value, and beauty of all living things. This positions people as part of a harmonious greater whole. Lessons are to be had from the realm of plants, animals, and ecosystems – lessons such as how life, including our own, is a delicate balance that must be cared for. With current environmental concerns arising, and creating an essential need for action and change, my paintings are emphasizing that we must think about our divine relationship to nature.
The Evolution of the Abstract Landscape Series
My new work continues along the lines of the ideas behind my previous paintings, but a change took place in subject matter that deepened their development. I continued progressing and evolving my current visual language of painting, which conveys my message in an understandable way. But I broadened the scope of my topic.
Of late my painting took another turn in its development. It had been focused on looking at nature in a holistic way, as part of a greater system that includes humanity and whose components must function in a healthy and respectful manner to ensure the sustainability of the whole. I then began to apply these ideas to my life, and the landscapes became metaphors for autobiographical subjects. Just as nature and the environment that sustains us must be treated with respect, I have found myself having to look at my life, character, situations and ideas with this same holistic approach, and this in order to take charge of myself and live with a healthy, happy and responsible attitude. This involves outer aspects of my life, but that are deeply rooted in the internal facets of myself, which became the underlying premise of my landscapes. I saw, and then created, a parallel in my work between the way I had been thinking about nature and auto-biographical subjects, and the self.
An example of this, as seen in my portfolio, is the painting titled “Presage Of Peace”. The work depicts a boardwalk, stretching before the viewer, which leads to a white sandy beach, with crystalline turquoise water and a blissful cloudless blue sky. The painting is 5 feet wide, and creates an ambient environment the viewer stands in when looking at it. This work is a metaphor for many situations in my life: I have undergone a long journey, and now my goal is visible before me, only a few steps away. All the toiling, péripéties and efforts have led me to seeing my purpose a short distance in front of me, with only a last effort required to reach it.