Harmony Meets Disharmony

In 1998 I began working on a series of images whose major organizing scaffold is the square. My series follows a long tradition aimed at uncovering the essential qualities of the square as a subject for art. This tradition began with Kazimir Malevich and flowed through the work of such artists as Franz Kline.   I feel that my major contribution to this genre has been the painting, An Eccentric Square (1998).  I took cues from this painting as my square series developed and began to tilt the square which has the effect of increasing the dynamics and hence interest for the viewer. To further engage the viewer, multiple squares are added and made to interact through their harmonious arrangement. This approach has infinite possibilities and has led me, through the incorporation of arcs, back to works with many curvilinear motifs. Fiat Lux , a work commissioned and executed in 2001 for Dudley Spencer's Frank Lloyd Wright designed home (Wilmington, DE), demonstrates what I feel is my best attempt at harmonizing the square and curvilinear forms. In early 2002, my work took a turn wherein I began a series of works based on the interrelation of harmony and disharmony; or alternatively speaking, the interrelation between darkness and light. The painting Harmony - Disharmony represents one extreme of this idea wherein the two sides of the work oppose one another.   The painting Contemplation in Studio represents an attempt to move back into the light after a couple of years making paintings composed of dark hues.   Although this painting is titled, its making came totally from an abstract impulse.