Song Cycle

Photography has been my primary medium and hence I have been wedded to the concrete for many years. In my most recent work I am interested in the challenges I find in abstraction. My question has been, can I use photo-based material as a means to bypass the concrete world and move my work into pure abstraction? ??In answering this question for myself I have devised a method of drawing and mark-making with digital photographic information that I use to layer image upon image as I build up the surface of the picture plane. I use a flattened perspective so that multiple images are densely compressed within a complex surface. The picture plane becomes a vibrant, kinetic space where many different views and forms come together.  Music is a great inspiration to me and I have used musical notation as a stepping off point in this particular series of works. I’m interested in the sound of specific musical compositions as well as the visual mark-making in the scores themselves. I’ve taken particular interest in early music and music scores as well as those of John Cage, since both use forms of notation that are different from current conventional notation. As a singer I am mostly inspired by vocal music as the voice is fundamentally the first instrument. Delving into music that I have studied thoroughly and been profoundly moved by I create imaginary shapes using scans of the original scores and incorporate these scores with my own mark-marking and forms.