Select works from 2000-2004. Click on image to see info and larger view

At one point in time, I began thinking of these works as still lifes, though not in the traditional sense. The works revolve, however, around the still life object: items that symbolize life, its cycles, journeys, rituals, ceremonies. Fruits and vegetables, for example, symbolize sustaining aspects of life, cycles and fertility. Vases and bowls represent various rituals or ceremonies. Often these objects fade or dissolve into the background, therefore dissolving and blurring the boundary between object and background, creating a greater unity.

Exploring contrasts is also of interest to me. In these works one finds the contrast of the man made object with the natural object, sturdy metal teapots with delicate bird eggs, the permanency of stone contrasted with the impermanency of paper lanterns. There is also a contrast between the realistic object, with its suggestion or illusion of depth, and the flat, highly abstract background, composed of pattern, letters and paint smears. Contrasts are significant in that they allow us to see and define opposites. Without light, how would one know darkness? Contrasts can also allow us to see connections and inter-relationships.