Reflections Beneath Driftwood

Vigore Magazine, August 2015.

Images

Artist Statement

Light is energy.? As humans we respond physically to the play of light entering us through our eyes.? In art, strong contrasts of lights and darks attract the viewer's eye to parts of a painting or photograph that the artist considers most meaningful.

My current series or paintings and photographs, titled "Reflections Beneath Driftwood", explore the changing landscape of Abiquiú Dam, in Abiquiú, New Mexico, caused by a twenty year drought. They also capture large pieces of petrified driftwood that have blown off of the boulders surrounding the dam that have landed into the water.? From 2008-2015, I have documented the amount of driftwood that has been exposed to the light, because of the significant water level drop at Abiquiú Dam, which started long before 1995, when I first started visiting the dam.? Back then you could jump off of the large boulders into deep water without touching the bottom of the dam. As of 2015, you have to walk 400 yards from the boulders, on dry land, to get to the water's shallow edge; once there it is another 400 yards before reservoir water is over your head.

Water is a life force.? It is not only cleansing, refreshing, revitalizing, but it renews, sustains and creates life. We cannot live without light or water. As an artist the challenge for me is to provide an effective balance between appearance and understanding.? Light as well as water creates drama, movement, texture, purpose, place and feeling. Lights and darks can message our emotions softly or they can abrasively repulse us with intensity. We cannot escape the purpose that light and water play on our existence.

My current photographs and paintings explore multiple surfaces as well as the illusion of the reflection that creates space, movement and composition underneath the water.? The surfaces of my paintings achieve a range of realistic textural effects: petrified wood, water, rocks, and bones are all described through contrasts of tone.? I use layers of thinned paint to create the illusion of texture in my work.

Paint is alsoused to break up the surface and add visual depth to the pieces. In the photographs, the driftwoods' reflection capture not only light, space,volume, colors, textures, but shapes, as well as reflect the stillness, or wind currents, on the surface of the water.? These large pieces of driftwood are stunning figures on top of the water with a complex visual story underneath.

In this new series, light and shadow structures create emotional drama which plays upon an inanimate object like driftwood, that might otherwise seem unremarkable -- by highlighting, for instance, the twist in a piece of driftwood which creates an intentional illusion of volume through a single light source. In the paintings the reflection becomes a playground to explore, light and undertones. The composition becomes rich with complexity, both from the subject itself and from the light source which creates the reflection. Lights and darks are interdependent and inseparable. Without their contrasts we would be unable to see or understand the world.

Lastly, the concept of a "series" is essential; because, each image becomes and opportunity to cause an emotional shift in the viewer, or a subtle shift in the conversation.

My hope is to stimulate different questions and elicit different emotions about the content to move the viewer beyond their "comfort zone" in responding to the artwork.

As an artist, I believe we need to be at the forefront of complex issues; pushing the boundaries of exposing truth, creating understanding and acknowledging our past, present and future, no matter what the subject matter is.