The selected paintings on this site are sampled from a much larger body of work from the 1990's to the present. They are mainly oil on wood panel or canvas with a selection of oil on mixed media. More of the work can be seen housed in the legacy virtual galleries at www.avass.com. Work related to the art and design of architecture can be found at www.studiovass.com. Information on our published exploratory art project is at www.dressingshadows.com.

The mental landscapes show views through both our inner and outer cosmos simultaneously.  The layered discovery of forms can be visually unraveled by our subconscious to unfold meaning and visually reveal force through time.  The subject and space are always folded into each other.  The subject as a life force struggles to flow and consolidate itself with environmental forces and through this process becomes one with them.

 

The interrelationship between various art forms and media is a fundamental concept underlying all of my work. They all draw from the same well of the force around the collective subconscious using the intuitive personal unconscious as a ladle. Through the universal language of pattern formation, art finds expression for unconscious experience.

 

The physical process involves the sculpting of layers of surfaces.  Hallucinated forms are realized with the careful manipulation of oils. As a form of erosion it addresses issues of time and entropy.  The conscious design engine also involves the consolidation of forces within the surface which evolves into space.

 

This painting is a meta-scope, showing the direction of another level of consciousness and visual perception. The whole captures the attention, invites scrutiny. Each shape twists the mind’s emotive coil, slipping it further into complexity. Then it goes beyond what was created by hand by becoming a bridge to what we still cannot fully see. It becomes a bridge through the force of its subconscious intent. This force pulls the twisting coil tighter, becoming thinner until it is imperceivable. It can be a bridge because the point of non-perception is not a true break, but a lack of acuity on the part of consciousness.

 

By mixing emotively symbolic forms in this process we invite the spectator into a mental landscape where the oppositions of feeling and thought mingle. In fact, the concept of oppositions (historical, mythological, metaphysical and visual) is forced into playfully ambiguous relationships and fit into a larger body of exploration.

 

Abstraction in this setting is not for its own sake. The expression of force and emotion is only a starting point. This abstracting and consolidating of force doesn't just free the 2D plane from its traditional window function, it also works to regain and evolve that function into interactive doors and portals.

 

As a meta-scope, it becomes a mirror, microscope, telescope, x-ray, and ideally other metaphysical visual enhancers. These new lenses can work off of our collective and personal memories to relay visual emotions that approach higher dimensions. I believe this is in the vein of the true nature of art. From within its poetic world, art is the front line of perceptual innovation. Conscious only of itself, it references infinity.