We each live behind our eyes. We live together, we act on and react to each other; but always and in all circumstances we are alone behind our eyes. Sensations, emotions, insights - all of these are individual and essentially incommunicable, except at a second hand distance. My work is about telling life stories through portraiture. The inner story of every character is written both through and on their flesh, each with all of their dreams and hang-ups clearly, though sometimes cryptically, exposed for the world to judge. The minute details of their lives are there to be seen as well, but of course, they are not always understood, at least not clearly or in the proper context (not unlike trying to interpret a strangers tattoos while waiting in the check-out line). This is due to the fact that the viewer brings their own life and experiences to each piece in order to identify with and understand the image in front of them. By consulting the library of their own past, the viewer brings additional meaning to words taken out of context, tattoos, symbols, and the unspoken words of the eyes.
For these reasons I have only minor interest in explaining a particular mood, emotion, or series of events that inspired an individual piece. I am much more interested in what the viewer brings to the equation; the way in which my work fits into their own self portrait. The extended amount of time that I spend on them makes me view each of these portraits as being of actual people. That is why, like strangers in the check-out line, I leave each piece to live and breathe on its own, to rise or fall on its own merits, and to shout its own story across the void to the viewer in the hope of understanding, and possibly, friendship.
