About the artist
Visually I am excited by the changing perspective in our landscapes and the way in which reflection doubles and alters identity - in water, light and in nature, inevitably reflecting ourselves.
I grew up in Parkdale in Toronto’s west end, an aging working class area with some glimpses of past grandeur. My first influence was the practical environment of streetcars and railway tracks, cement underpasses, and small fenced yards. It was a plastic coated society with no immediate connection to the environment. The beauty found in this urban decay later declared itself in paintings of rusted trucks, old boats, canoes and found objects, suggestive of the toil of living in a mechanical age.
Another strong focus in my paintings is the depictions of trees and rocks in the woods around Muskoka and closer to home in the area around Grenadier Pond in High Park. As our environment evolves but is continually threatened, it is important that we are able to see ourselves in the reflected landscape. A massive rock, for instance, standing thousands of years as part of the Canadian Shield, can become a dignified and personal image that allows us to define such objects as protectors of our eroding earth.
It is my hope that in portraying ourselves and nature as one, we are better able to understand the erosion of the earth and our intrinsic need to save and protect.