My paintings and video originate in landscape, specifically beside rivers and estuaries. Since 1993 my studio has been located on the western shoreline of the Hudson River in Greene County, NY. Though my work appears abstract, I work from direct observation and close study on-site.

Fluidity is a shared property of water, oil paint and video; water and oil paint also share the property of viscosity. Exploring paint as a mimetic medium, I use its physicality to perform in ways that are similar to my subject. Similarly, bodies of water and electronic media share attributes of luminosity and motion.

I use the water’s mirrored surface as a giant aquatic lens that assimilates reflection, color, and pattern. It collects activity from the sky above, the reflections of clouds, fog, foliage, and of barges, tugs, and tankers. Looking at the surface of bodies of water is a way of indirectly observing the world through reflections. Mediated observation can suggest metaphor and render what is known equivocal.

Recently I have noticed an inverse relationship between my paintings and video. With the former, I collapse hours of observation of a river’s ever-changing surface into the still surface of a painting. While in the latter, I employ still imagery to embody the passage of time and to intimate never-ending change.