Art is a Visionary language of communication, enhancement, and most importantly personal release and divination. As such it predates writing, and in fact invented it. From its core is derived the visceral, ineffable radicalism of the human spirit. Its picture, often obscured to popular taste through its inherent idiosyncratic nature, is more inclusive than written or spoken language as it encompasses those personal inner experiences untranslatable by the broadest lexicon. It is a language itself of metaphorical and metaphysical imaging essential to the process of conscious thought.

I once found a small article pinned to the wall in an art class in college. It compared Picasso’s etching of a bull to paintings done on the cave walls in Lascaux. The article concluded by stating that the difference between Picasso’s bull and the bull by the Paleolithic artist is that Picasso was not trying to “capture” the bull, referring to the supposed supernatural beliefs and rituals associated with the cave paintings. But I take exception to that. I believe that Picasso was indeed trying to capture the bull, not only in the objective sense of capturing the essence of the bull in a sign for others to easily recognize, but in a very subjective sense. I believe he was in fact internalizing the spirit of the bull. I believe he was using it psychologically, philosophically, scientifically, politically, as well as shamanically as an affirmation of self-determination and the power of creativity. After many years I have finally come to recognize that this is the method I have always sought after in my work: I seek to make signs of self-affirmation and determination by taking myself and urging the viewer into realms where the everyday laws do not apply, and where one must dig deeper within oneself for new choices and new perspectives.

Lately I have discovered a kind of kinship to those who some are referring to as “pop surrealists” or “lowbrow artists”. Likewise I have felt trapped between the realms of the illustrative and the abstract. I now no longer feel trapped but at home there. I can experience its malleability and endless potential for combining and developing disparate solutions. Not falling into the trap of fashion, but being regardful of current paradigms and our place in history.