ARTIST STATEMENT

To me, photography has always been much closer to its original definition as drawing with light, than capturing moments. When I take someone’s portrait, I look for their inner-most light—what shapes their personality. Likewise, when I create a ”Photo-graph”, I am expressing the very core of what the discipline of photography means to me: “Photograph” from the Greek “phos” meaning light and “graph” meaning “drawing” or ”writing. In the dark room, an environment of both chaos and control, I use both the stylus and my artistic intuition to create new expressions. Exposing the photographic paper to light through the pen allows me to add another layer of direct expression to the image, to further express what is on my mind without the intervention of a negative. “It’s Not Your Fault You Dream”. “Namaste”. “Every Shape Has A Meaning (Applied).”

When I am tracing the words, I am just as concerned with the composition as I am with the symbolic logic. The line’s gesture becomes just as, if not more important than the word’s value, especially since the nature of the process can make the lines dissolve or become fragmented. While I love the uniqueness that stems from the analog physics and optics of my ”photo-graphs,” I have recently begun to introduce a digital element to my work. I re-photograph the drawings and then project the image up against a nude or another surface. It combines my interest in the figure while maintaining the integrity and uniqueness of the original composition. It turns the two dimensional composition into a three-dimensional composition with layered meanings and hierarchies. Through this process I am allowed to explore the relationship between the line and the limb. To me it will however always be important that the final product has its roots in analog “photo-graphy”, true writing with light.