On ‘Plant Life’

In Boston of 2012 I had shifted my attention from a body of abstract expressionist works to begin a new series, now listed as Plant Life. The very first painting on the series was created in response to a personal request from my wife. The subject, namely flowers, unexpectedly began to bare fruit, yet the abstract works continued to fertilize the process. Instead of approaching flowers as 'still-life' I found myself charging canvas space with the energy of those previous abstract paintings by attempting to blur the lines between things large and small - planets and pollen / the life-giving cosmos focussed into the smallest of objects found within the garden. I considered the close-up experience of blossoming, the petals being forced beyond the ability of ocular focus - imagined flowers blurring into wild spasms of vision, evoking fragrance and memory and presenting themselves, not as inanimate objects, but as personages - with personalities all their own. The majority of these works are now in private and institutional collections, but the series continues to grow.

Plant Life & Expressionist Landscapes