Nature: a silent medium

          I am influenced by everything visible and had to learn how to discriminate between inspired, distinguished, and well-focused compositions, and those which are unfocused, chaotic, and disorienting.  Eventually I developed visual prejudices - finding myself drawn to organic rather than geometric forms and to objects mysterious enough to inspire contemplation.  For me the capacity of an object to evoke contemplation is its ultimate utility. 

          In other words, when I see a field of cotton* I don't think about the plant's eventual transformation into cloth, but absorb information about the plant’s structure, texture, and form, and consider its similarity to clouds.  I don't think about lumber when I see a tree, but digest ideas about the characteristics of growth and asymmetrical forms.  I'd rather think about growth than 2 by 4's.

          In the studio one of the things I have in common with my art is silence.  Art work is notoriously quiet and a blank canvas even more so - it begs to be marked or scared.  In this silence something wishes to emerge, be born, created, come into being.  My mind grows quiet, focusing on one thought at a time, developing it in the same way my eyes enlighten my mind about a single form by traveling around its perimeter and contours.

          There are many types of silent communication.  One of the grandest and most prolific is Nature.  As a person who works with a silent medium I developed a strong affinity toward her.  My biased mind is filled with a library of organic forms.

          Opinions about the modern artist's relationship to Nature vary widely.  I have been "told" by various critics that I despise her, that I am estranged, remote from and exploitative of Nature, that I consider her capricious and hold her in contempt, that I desire power over her, and that, if abstract, my art is decidedly unlike her and an assault to tradition.  Sometimes these same authors said the opposite - that I may not be derogatory toward objects simply because I neglect their appearance.  These remarks were made by critics who never reconciled their own inconsistencies.  In the face of them, there remains a lot of room for discussion.

          Most of the visual information I absorb has been shaped and handled by man.  And most man-made structures are geometric in form - they are angular and emphasize a strong preference for symmetry.  There are few organically shaped buildings in the world.  Being immersed in a man-made world and being one step removed from having to manufacture my own material needs gives me the freedom to think of the organic world in different terms.  I am free to consider Nature as a beneficiary of my actions rather then a dictator or tyrant who determines my every move.  As one of the first generations of persons to live with this liberty, I am free to define the terms by which I approach her.

          My interaction with Nature is no longer determined by the toil of my hands but is selected by the journey of my eyes.  I am free to contemplate her and the thoughts generated by doing so affect my creative actions.  But again, these thoughts are recorded and acted upon in the same format they are received - visual.  This cycle cannot help but produce new visual responses as my evolving relationship to natural phenomenon works its way into art.


*Gossypium hirsutum