Artist Statement
My father fought in the European theater during W.W.II, fighting in Africa, Sicily, France and Germany. My mother was a teenager during the bombing of Britain and joined the British Royal Navy when she was eighteen. My father didn’t talk much about the war when I was growing up, as many of his generation did not. This series of paintings are influenced by historical research and first-hand accounts of the war by those who were there, and an attempt to trace my father’s steps to learn more about his life as a soldier.
This work is divided into three series of investigation. I make paintings that are “visual quotes” - that is landscape abstractions based on visual descriptions of the war by those who were there. The second series are mixed media pieces that reflect my interest in, or my reaction to specific historical events, or ideas specifically involving my family. The third series acknowledges the silence. For this, I have chosen stripes as a motif.
