Artist Information
Biography:
I was born and raised in Salt Lake City Utah. Right out of high school I joined a group of musicians doing performances using the latest electronic music technology along with lights, slide projectors, dancers and other forms of visual art. We performed at the Hanson Planetarium and other venues in Salt Lake. In the mid-70’s we did one of the first ground breaking music videos with a well known videographer named Jack Vetterli. At the time I concentrated on electronic music composition and production, with visual arts as a background interest.
In the 1980’s I studied photography and psychology at the University of Utah. I shot portfolio pictures for dancers in the dance department. I also shot and produced a slide show for student services at the University of Utah combining music and images. I have had my work used in advertising, including a project for the Utah State Travel council who exhibited one my pieces in the Salt Palace Arena, home of the Utah Jazz pro basketball team.
After graduation, I moved to Michigan where I acquired a master’s degree in social work at the University of Michigan. During my time there, I made several trips into inner city Detroit where I experimented with shooting pictures of the urban decay. What was urban blight to others was a rich environment of colors and textures for me to do photographic experimentation. Using a city in decay, I tried to achieve the same contrasts in color and texture that I was trying to achieve in sound with my electronic music.
After graduation, I moved to Fort Collins Colorado where I was employed as a medical social worker and Pourdre Valley Hospital. During this time I continued my experimentation into abstract photography and was successful in exhibiting in the Walnut Street Gallery in Old Town Fort Collins.
In 2001 my photographic vision was realized even more when I went digital with cameras and Photoshop. The change from audio mediums to visual, from synthesizers and multichannel recording, to cameras and Photoshop, have given me the opportunity to translate principles of artistic expression from one medium to another.
Statement:
My photography starts by shooting images of the convergence of man made and manipulated objects and nature's process of reclaiming these materials. This includes subjects such as rusting metal, flaking paint on wood, or rotting fabric. I choose my shots based on their texture and formal composition, with as much color variation as I can find. In Photoshop I play with the contrast, hue and color saturation to bring out a tasteful blend of contrasting elements in the work. The end result is artwork that looks more like an oil or acrylic painting.
My art seeks to capture the dramatic conflicts of industrial society's attempts to bend raw materials to our will and natures divergent goals to exact constant change and impermanence. The paint on a building or car is meant as much for preservation as it is for looks. When it gives way to nature, patterns in cracks may appear and layers of paint, primer or rust, newly exposed, create depth in the image. If this can be compared to a dance, it would be the tango with its passion and drama being played out between two bodies moving with a mix of harmony and conflict to create art in movement. My art chronicles our emotional dance with nature. Working on an abstract emotional level it transcends definition to reveal something deeper in ourselves. I hope in experiencing my work you will be able to connect with these emotions in a new journey of discovery.
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