Painting with Paper

Artist Statement

Painting with oils or acrylics was always my preferred means of expression. At a certain point, I lacked the space to paint and switched to pencil and paper. I liked the confinement of drawing with ebony pencils on white paper and found inspiration from the photographic compositions of Walker Evans. Later, sparked by the work of Joseph Cornell, I began collecting printed media to use in my work.

I pasted down images of objects and faces but felt the need to express more immediacy and action in my work, and became drawn to the Abstract Expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and John Chamberlain. I tore up the images and discovered that each bit of paper contained its own light and dark as if it was a brushstroke of wet paint. In effect, I was turning a solid bit of paper into a liquid stroke.

I have piles of these brushstrokes in my studio which I fashion from auction catalogs filled with silver and gold objects, porcelain, and jewelry. I use reproductions of paintings and sculptures, and glean brushstrokes from Wayne Thiebaud, John Singer Sargent, and works of the old masters. I cut, tear, paste, and inlay new strokes and form rearrangements of these elements, remaking them into something that is meaningful to me in the moment.