Artist Statement
I feel uneasy calling myself an artist. I’m a painter, drawer, printmaker, illustrator, etc. The process of becoming one is a compulsion to make work and for each piece to be a little better than the preceding. It’s an evolution that hopefully transforms the student into the artist.
Picasso said that “Art is a lie,” and I somewhat agree. Art is an illusion, not unlike a magic trick. Good paintings can illicit a psychological response that causes the viewer to believe they are experience something they are not. If you think about it, art is the root of artificial. This is one of the reasons that I am not tied to one subject matter or media. It is secondary and maybe even beside the point.
The formality of picture making, composition, color relationships, etc. are my main concern. Even if the “thing” that I am painting exists in reality, I always finish the painting without referencing it. I sketch in the basic details and then become immersed is bringing the formal and the literal into some sort of harmony on the surface of the canvas. The work is never fully planned. It evolves by making a mark and reacting to it, not unlike a call and response in jazz music, which comes from the same place as visual art.
Like a certain riff or variations on a theme, I will work with one subject matter over a period of time. As long as it is evolving and as long as I’m struggling, learning, or growing, I continue with that series. As soon as I start to stagnate, I change the subject and start the process again. It may start with still-life, then landscape, then portrait or abstract and work back around to still-life. The time spent on each subject influences the next and hopefully breaths life into the previous ones as I complete and continue the cycle.
There are many influences on my work including Van Gogh, Wayne Thiebaud, Hiram Williams, Barry Moser, and the abstract expressionists. Another big influence for his work and philosophy is Chuck Close, who’s famous quote I try to live by, “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you’re not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.”
SOLO/2 PERSON SHOWS
• The Lounge, On-line Gallery Opening August 1998
• Mississippi Heritage Trust 10 Most Endangered, Nov. 1998
• Gravity Gallery, Clinton, MS January 1999
• Nunnery’s Gallery, Jackson, MS March 1999
• Automatic Slim’s, Memphis, TN September 10, 1999
• Arcus Ironworks Gallery, Ridgeland, MS, December 9, 1999
• New York Salon Show June, 2000
• Madison Gallery, Madison, MS October 2000
• Cartmell Gallery, Meridian, MS October 2000
• City Grocery, Oxford, MS January 2001
• The Treehouse, Jackson, MS February 2001
• Ist Street Gallery, Granada, MS March 2001
• The Art of State Studios, Studio 1,Jackson, MS, December 2001
• Nunnery’s Gallery, Jackson, MS, August 2002
• The Art of State Studios, Studio 1,Jackson, MS, December 2002
• North Beach Interiors, Bay St. Louis, MS December 2004
• Nunnery’s Gallery, Jackson, MS “About Jackson” May 2004
• Southside Gallery, Oxford, January 2005
• Sonya Paz Gallery, Santa Clara, CA “City of Fools” w/ Paz, Benjamin April, 2006
• Marie Hull Gallerie, Raymond, MS December, 2006
• Southside Gallery, Oxford, MS March 2007
• Nunnery’s Gallery, Jackson, MS “Chaos and Order” May 2009
• “Retrospective”, Mississippi Arts Center, June 2009
• “Anonymous”, Eudora Welty Library, September 2009
• Jones County Junior College, Ellisville, MS September 2009
• Genesis Gallery, Pascagoula, MS October 2009
• The Blue Building, Bay St. Louis, MS December, 2009 to benefit LOAM
• North Midtown Arts Center, featured artist, December 2009
• Copiah/Lincoln Community College, October, 2010
• August-September: St. Andrew’s Gallery November 2010
• BEE Gallery, Atlanta, GA Solo Show “Eco-Aesthetic”
• AnTHM Gallery, Black Mtn., NC December 2010
• Marie Hull Gallery, Raymond, MS w/ Ron Lindsey February 2011
• Howard Finster Vision House, Chicago, Il Solo April 2011
• Oddfellows Gallery, Hattiesburg, MS September 2012
• MS Library Commission, Jackson, MS w/ Mina Lee September 2012
• Salon Show, Northampton, MA June 2015
GROUP SHOWS
• Still Life Gallery , Hattiesburg, MS 1996
• The Figure, Suite 103 Gallery of Art, Jackson, MS 1996
• Mississippi Arts Alliance Holiday Gallery Tour, Nov., 1998
• The Attic Gallery March, 1999
• Art Who? June 17, 1999, Ocean Springs, MS
• The Attic Gallery June 18, 1999, Vicksburg, MS
• Nunnery’s Gallery August 26, 1999 “Dog days of Summer”
• The Attic Gallery, The Birds, Feb, 2000
• Arcus, Odonada Group Show, Ridgeland, MS, April, 2000
• Nunnery’s Gallery August 2000 “Dog Days II”
• Get Real Art, New York, NY October 2000
• Get Real Art, New York, NY February 2001 Top Selling Artists of 2000
• The Attic Gallery, Group theme show, April, 2001
• The Art of State Studios, Studio 1,Jackson, MS, September 2002
• Madison Gallery, Madison, MS September 2002
• Attic Gallery Group Show, Vicksburg, MS 2002
• Nunnery’s Gallery September 2003 “Dog Days II”
• Hattiesburg Arts Council, October 2003
• Attic Gallery Group Show, Vicksburg, MS 2003
• Ohr O’Keefe Regional Show, Biloxi, MS
• USM Museum of Art, “Saints, Spirits, & Dreams” January 2005
• Attic Gallery Group Show, Vicksburg, MS 2006
• A Gallery Group Show, Hattiesburg, MS 2006
• Attic Gallery Group Show, Vicksburg, MS 2007
• A Gallery Group Show, Hattiesburg, MS 2007
• Attic Gallery Group Show, Vicksburg, MS 2008
• Highlands Fine Art, “Bilbo to Obama”, Jackson, MS 2008
• “Mississippi’s 10 Most Endangered Landmarks” September 2009
• St. Andrews Presents, DECO, December 2009
• Hope Hollow Opening Gala, February, 2010
• The Auditorium, Fondren, MS March, 2010
• Charming Walls, 6” x 6”, New York, NY October 2010
• USM Museum of Art, Alumni Group Show, October 2010
• Nunnery’s at Gallery 119: Local Guys, March 2011
• The Cedars, Jackson, MS Group Show, April 2011
• The Attic, Vicksburg, MS 40th Anniversary Show, October 2011
• Fischer Galleries, "Self-Portraits", January 2012
• Mississippi Museum of Art: Artists by Artists, September 2012
• Mississippi’s Most Endangered Historic Landmarks, October 2015
• Self-portraits, Twisted Anchor, Ocean Springs, MS July 2016