ARTIST STATEMENT: For me, making art is dreaming, being open, allowing forms, space and light to flow slowly through me, like the absorption of oil into cloth. Not illustrations or literal translations, my art transforms ancient myths to mysterious worlds where the boundaries between underworld and waking earth are traversable, terror coexists with joy, and loss yields to renewal. My art pieces, inspired by The Ramayana and Ovid’s Metamorphosis, are quiet landscape narratives in the guise of abstract explorations. Emotional tensions are transformed into forms emerging from light and dark, suggestions of figures in space. Beginning with myths, I hope to create epic spaces where the world at its least understandable is made concrete.
I have been at the center of the anti-fracking movement since 2008, and though lyrical and semi-abstract, my art directly relates to my environmentalism. Commercialism has turned our humanity into a deadly pastiche of plastic emotions: We buy to camouflage our alienation, uncontrollably burning fossil fuels that threaten our very existence. By expressing our deepest emotions, my art is a plea that we return to our spiritual centers where we value our fellow human beings, and our needs flow with the ecological life forces of the planet.
Ancestral Fire 2015 oil on canvas 38 x 48 inches Made with a palette knife, this painting was inspired by the ancient India epic, The Ramayana.
Ancestral Fire, detail 2015 oil on canvas This image is a detail of the painting, Ancestral Fire.
Could It Be? 2017 oil on canvas 30 x 36 inches Made with brushes and palette knives, this painting was inspired by a story told on The Moth Radio Hour, an NPR radio show where people relate poignant personal stories.
Emergence From Without Form 2016 oil on canvas 48 x 38 inches Made with a palette knife, this painting was inspired by the ancient India epic, The Ramayana.
Looming Edge Of Dark 2016 oil on canvas 42 x 52 inches Made with a palette knife, this painting was inspired by the ancient India epic, The Ramayana.
Looming Edge Of Dark, detail 2016 oil on canvas This image is a detail of the painting, Looming Edge Of Dark.
Why Not Her? 2016 oil on canvas Made with a palette knife, this painting was inspired by the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana.
Breath of The Innocent 2016 oil on canvas Made with a palette knife, this painting was inspired by the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana.
Breath of The Innocent, detail 2016 oil on canvas This image is a detail of the painting, Breath of The Innocent.
When The Where Was 2017 oil on canvas 30 x 36 inches This painting was inspired by Ovid's The Metamorphosis.
Blue Mist of Why 2016 watercolor on archival paper 7 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches This watercolor was inspired by Ovid's The Metamorphosis.
HIdden Found 2016 watercolor on archival paper 7 1/2 x 11 inches This watercolor was inspired by Ovid's The Metamorphosis.
Air Spins over River Clouds 2016 watercolor on archival paper 7 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches This watercolor was inspired by Ovid's The Metamorphosis.
Gently Sleeping Tumult 2016 watercolor on archival paper 7 1/2 x 11 inches This watercolor was inspired by the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana.
Two Becomes One 2017 watercolor on archival paper 7 1/2 x 11 inches This watercolor was inspired by Ovid's The Metamorphosis.
Lost within The Cloud of Childhood 2016 watercolor on archival paper 7 1/2 x 10 inches This watercolor was inspired by a short story by Dylan Thomas.
Descent of The Winter Gods 2017 pen & ink on paper 2 3/4 x 4 5/8 inches This drawing was inspired by Ovid's The Metamorphosis.
Underneath The Air of Transcience 2017 pen & ink on paper 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches This drawing was inspired by Ovid's Metamorphosis.
Breath of The Innocent (drawing) 2016 charcoal on tinted paper 27 1/2 x 35 inches This drawing was inspired by the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana.
Winter Sighs over Lost Lands 2016 charcoal on tinted paper 27 1/2 x 35 inches This drawing was inspired by the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana.