La Frontera

Thicket Ensconced in Snakes-mixed media photograph

Painting (I use the term painting to represent all fine art practices) is a wonderful thing because   it diminishes boundaries. The practice of painting widens and unifies my world concept, knocking down distinctions and their attendant distractions. Painting makes me more humane. A world of distinctions creates boundaries between myself and others, and boundaries further the sense of other which opens the doors of objectification. When there are racial distinctions, ethnic distinctions, gender distinctions, age distinctions et. all, a delineation between self and other is drawn and when the other is seen as outside of the self, the doors of inhumane treatment are opened. The other is now an external object and is party to a world of abuses. We begin to lose our humanity when we make distinctions. We parley away our freedoms when we create boundaries. We are no longer free to roam the wide open frontiers of existence, but are instead bound fast and held tight to the tiny hamlets of our tepid imaginations. Our minds begin to create the world rather than experience it, and we become lost in the rigid, totalitarian constructs of our corporeal templates.

As I've said before, what I like about painting is that it changes my mind. Painting unscrews the lid from the jar of world unity and allows passage to vast new territories unbridled by boundaries, borders or check points. My best work seems to be not my work at all, but rather the product of letting go of my control and letting the paint lead me. The paint undoes my judgments and makes use of things I've rejected. The paint is always teaching.