Art as a path to truth

“…Dana Gioia observes: ‘Art addresses us in the fullness of our being – simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory and physical senses. They’re some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories or songs or images.’ This is true and well said. The most powerful discourse of truth is not abstract doctrinal propositions but stories and images and art because these engage our whole person, not just our minds.”

Jonathan Pennington Reading the Gospels Wisely

Behold

Behold; request, suggestion or command? However the viewer interprets the word I hope the response is the same, that they slow down, break out of their normal frantic pace and stop and look. There is so much grandeur that surrounds us yet escapes us in nature every day. Many of my paintings are an attempt to capture a moment in time that is magical, sublime, perhaps beautiful, perhaps awe inspiring, even terrifying and at the same time part of the daily theater of life on the planet.

Awaken

There are many times in life when I think most of us surrender to a stupor that we involuntarily allow to direct our paths. We can be elated by good news or stricken by tragedy either one of which may awaken us from the humdrum routine that we fall into. As an artist, the power and majesty of the natural world serves as a jolt to awaken me, to invigorate me and demand a response. My hope is to evoke a similar emotion and response to what I have seen through my paintings.