Some of the most personal
paintings in my collection depict my own eyes. I guess it is a way of letting the viewer into my soul,
to invite them to feel what I am feeling. Call it an “artist thing.”
The Hope and Despair idea was born out of a very difficult, stressful and painful
year and a half of my life. I guess we all go back into our childhood at some point in our lives where we revisit the scars
of the past. It has been a confrontation of my demons, my weaknesses, my shortfalls, my regrets and
my fears.
The hope topic has been the opposing
force to balance the despair. I held on to that desperately throughout the creation
of this show. I have never been more afraid to show such a collection of paintings, never publicly attempted
to paint topics like these. I have never wrestled so hard with how to present ideas in a way that would
not come across as propaganda or in a dogmatic tone.
These two paintings sum up the journey of the creation of this body of work – my most difficult and challenging
in 32 years of painting. As an artist, it is not my hope to convince you of any particular view: only that
you will look, ponder and feel something… and maybe even do a little research on your own.
