Ravens Eye View Artist's Statement

Often in putting together material for submission to various galleries and shows, I have been asked for an artist's statement. I have never really known quite what to say so here then is my best shot.

I do the work and produce Art because I have no choice -- I have to. Picking up a paintbrush or sketching in my sketchbook is as natural to me as breathing. I have been working in oils, acrylics and mixed media (really mixed! I actually tried to produce a work using coffee and tea as 'ink' once...) for over twenty-five years. I also have experience with sculpture and metal work though I am much more attuned to two-dimensional media.

To say my art education is somewhat eclectic is perhaps an understatement. I have had some limited class work when attending the University of New Mexico and I have taken courses in composition, painting, life drawing, art history and metal work here and there as time has permitted over the years.

When I was attending College a group of us got together and opened a student gallery to showcase our work. This was my first experience with the commercial art world and since that time I have continued to sell my work first in New Mexico and Colorado and now in Washington and Oregon.

I am currently very interested in combining classical technique and methods with modern computer based technique. I work with 3D animation and rendering programs so it wasn't too much of a stretch to begin to produce 'Glicee' prints from my work. Typically I have 4X5 photographic transparencies produced which I then drum scan to very high resolution files which I then color correct and output to glicee' printers.

My view on art is, I'm sure, somewhat eclectic as well. Initially I was drawn to the work of Dali, Max Ernst and the early surrealists, metaphysical and symbolic painters. I guess I have progressed along these lines over the years. In fact one of my latest works, 'The Harlequin', is really a true work of surrealism having been inspired a dream and utilizing various 'automatic techniques' in the production of the painting.

Perhaps, as some believe, this world is but a pale reflection of the next. If this is so, then my art resides somewhere between those worlds, a fleeting memory of the past or visions and dreams of the future. As if that which we perceive is dim, obscured by clouds and occluded by shadow, bleached and washed out by the incapacitates of our own perceptions. In many ways I believe it is my task (and all artists) to attempt to get beyond these limitations. Where I am able, I try to reveal that which is hidden. Sometimes the beauty and 'the connections behind' are all too much; all but overpowering. It is at these moments that I believe I touch the infinite, Art [with a capital A]... There is God in art, the created creating to express their creator in creation. Of course, as you might already suspect I believe there is more, much more.

In the past, when I have been asked to describe a particular work, I have found myself to be reluctant to do so. I believe an art work will always mean different things to different people; or different things to the same person at a different time in their life. In a way I believe this is a facet of what Art is about.

For instance: Over an eighteen-month period of late 1998 through 1999, I produced a work I have called 'The Millennium Trumps'. In the winter of 1998, I got the idea of producing a group of images based (loosely, very, very loosely) around the inner book [arcana] of the Tarot, AKA the trumps. I have done some little research along these lines over the years. However I was interested in updating the inner book for the new Millennium, thus 'The Millennium Trumps'. I worked out 33 themes (I had to limit the 'edition' and 33 is an ideal number for a lot of reasons, cabalistic, hermetic etc...). After I had determined each theme, I worked through them start to finish. I determined a few design rules up front: 1) each piece must begin within a circle; and 2) I would work the trump name into each work in Sanskrit characters using the English attributes. I did this mainly because I love the flavor and form of the Sanskrit characters, and because it is the oldest of written languages.

I have come to think of the trumps as a single work in thirty-three pieces and have enjoyed mixing and positioning them against each other in framed presentations and as a 'deck'. A great and good friend of mine and I have also produced poetry to go along with each piece and are currently designing a presentation in book form.

As usual I ramble on and on. Perhaps this glimpse into my mind and artistic processes can be the best-written statement I can make. As I said earlier I would prefer that the work speak for itself...

Oregon: May 2001
Contacting the Raven : Searaven@Webdivers.COM

List Of Images
Binding Forces	NW composite - #1	Crown of Creation	Body, Mind and Spirit
The Gathering	Anatomy of Grief	Raven Mask	Harlequin
The Western Tower	Posiedons Children #3	Desert Angels	Fever Dream #1
Haida Birds	Patagonia	Northern Tower	Kauai