I painted my first still-life in 1990, twenty-five years into my career, setting up simple domestic objects on my kitchen table. From the start, I chose the minimalist approach and have stayed with it ever since. During the last decade, I made a concerted effort to develop still-life into a major subject area for my work.
I found the simplicity of a minimalist approach partnered perfectly with the directness of the observation. The process was liberating, even meditative. In creating compositional designs with the objects and light, I discovered a compelling balance between the geometric abstraction and the realistic illusion. I had always orchestrated complex arrangements with my figurative work, not unlike a film director. I realized that still-life had played some essential role in this work. Through my large, cinematic figurative works, I had already realized the potential of ordinary objects; the enigmatic qualities of existence contained in the mundane. This is what Cezanne and Morandi had grappled with; what brings such an air of dignity to their simple subjects and the largeness we feel in them.
