Inspiration

The new drawings for the HERALD1 show opening next week at the Richmond Public Library are a departure from my previous work both in terms of medium (soft pastel) and image (non-representational abstraction). But the ideas and related work go back as far as my art student days and have collected through the years. The origins of the new work are varied and include: a student monotype series, an unrealized photography project, a group of paintings concerned with constructs of perspective in two-dimensional representation, a collaborative project of mixed-media pieces traded back and forth with a friend, and my more recent collages and three-dimensional work. The drawings became a point of intersection for these varied ideas and images.

These drawings are also influenced by several artists whose work I have appreciated over the years including: Sean Scully (his soft pastels are as lush as his large oils), Richard Diebenkorn (color! layers! veils!), Christopher Wilmarth (his minimal glass and steel sculptures are full of mystery and feeling), and Paul Rotterdam (his powerful drawing series Stations of the Cross was exhibited at the Anderson Gallery when I was studying painting at VCU and the images have stayed with me ever since).

Please join us on Friday, September 6 at the Richmond Public Library Main Branch, 6:30-9:00 for the opening of HERALD1. The show remains on exhibit through October 29.