Artist Statement

Cows, fences, rural buildings and landscapes are part of my experiences. These things are keys into the world that I am creating which is a parallel to the world I know. For me these things have very specific connotations though I do not deny the broader interpretations. Cows mean everything from the mass consumption of an industrialized world to the epitome of animal cruelty to the very definition of Kitsch in the mass produced marketing of decorative art. These characters are present but they are not the story.
 

I am interested in capturing a mix of emotional, intellectual and psychological aspects within these paintings. The rural landscape of my mind and youth is beautiful, grotesque, as well as emotionally and physically hard. I am not interested in the accurate depiction of this space for that has never had meaning for me. The landscape has a presence, a mixture of depression, anxiety and loss as well as health and fortitude. Two or five cows grazing in a green field can be majestic and beautiful or pitiful and lonely. From the beginning the dominant idea for the landscape within my paintings has to do with a representation that is not the way it is, but instead it is the way I remember or perceive it to be. In my paintings I want to talk about these things. Subjects often become metaphors for other things cows for people, trailers for cows, landscape for livelihood. These are natural progressions that happen with and without my permission.
 

Often staring, large and distorted the cow within my work occupies the role of the artist, the viewer, the hero and subjugated victim. The helplessness of the cow and the hollow of its stare become its power as well as its bane. For what creature is this that stands and stares without action or reason? They become metaphors for the human condition in its dichotomy of frailty and power. I want to capture the essence of myself within these cows. They transcend cows. These painting begin as cows but they become silent observers in my struggle to build a bridge that connects many aspects within my life.
 

Within these paintings the cow is often depicted during quiet moments, quiet and still moments that seem to suggest a lapse in activity. These spaces between dramatic occurrences become the filler for existence. The opportunity for meaning in these quiet moments which comprise the whole of our lives is a fertile field for my ideas. The cow becomes the clean slate or empty vessel that I pour a multitude of ideas into. The repetition of the cow creates a momentary truth where the cow is mythologized and the situations have tangible meaning. On them I have poured my discontent, my platitudes and my failures. The emergence of cows as heroic, misunderstood and strangely powerful has been the result.