Rooted in the collage and assemblage traditions of the Surrealists and the West Coast Neo-Dada artists, my work reveals a fascination with the symbolic content of found objects and appropriated images.  Materials such as rusted metal, printed papers, and deteriorating mirrors used in combination with painting and drawing on board become metaphors for psychological states of being.  My works examine how we selectively assign certain symbols, colors, and marks to represent memories, the passing of time, and cultural perceptions.  No matter how far removed we are from an event, person, perception, or emotional state, certain images can arouse feelings and associations.

     Selective memory is especially curious to me.  What makes one memory stay in the mind, while other events and images slip away deep into our unconscious or disappear altogether?  The chance discovery of a discarded object--a piece of wire or scrap of paper--can trigger an obscure memory.  The viewer may recall an entirely different memory or perception from my work, responding as much to the objects as to the marks, colors, and composition that contain them.  Each individual has a unique, complex accumulation of memories, real or constructed, that is brought to the reading of the work.  Our memories are fragments of the real and the perceived, often mediated by others whose own experiences affect what we perceive, and by our own psychological complexities.  What emerges then is a short visual, sensorial, and emotional image that encapsulates our feelings regarding a person, situation, or history, no matter how removed from the reality of such things.  These bits of held information are our markers of the past that are carried with us throughout our lives.

     Marking time and the construct of personal history goes hand in hand with the encapsulation of memories.  As humans, we are constantly reflecting on our mortality and the passage of time through body awareness and interpersonal relationships.  We try to make sense of our place in our environments and within the continuum of time.  My work attempts to examine and express an awareness of life and death, and our existential need to mark our place within humanity.