Why do I create?
I believe that our life experiences and innate tendencies heavily shape how we perceive the world around us. If that is true, then it must take a significant amount of effort and willingness to accept our state of blindness and begin to stretch our understanding. As a mere part of this world, I am motivated to look closer and think deeper about the seemingly simple things in front of me. However, I acknowledge that I must still be missing quite a lot, and that fact leaves me in awe. I am entirely fascinated by the biological complexity of life - animals, plants, and histology are frequent inspirations for the subjects and textures shown in my artwork. The simple act of caring for my pets and collection of plants, the routine of providing for them, and the pleasure of watching them thrive and grow brings me great joy, feeding the wonderment that I feel so fortunate to possess. It never gets old, and I’m grateful to be blessed with such easy contentment.
As an artist, I feel driven to depict my subjects in a way which highlights the unique complexity and beauty of their creation, aiming to spark the viewer’s sense of fascination and inspire a humbled perspective. While working in a realistic style affords me the opportunity to capture the raw, factual nature of my subjects, my compositional choices bring focus to the delicate, charming energies of those creatures without a human voice. While I agree that there is much more to the world than what can simply be experienced with the senses, I often feel that, while in search of hidden gems, we often breeze past what is directly in front of us, dismissing them as common and thus missing out on their multi-faceted nature. |