Philosophy of Style

I use the term Symbolic Narrative to describe my art. It is a form of expression somewhere between realism and abstraction. As in realism, my work contains recognizable figures and objects. Yet, unlike historical narrative, the viewer is not being told a particular story of a past event, frozen in time. The viewer is assumed to be creating a personal story in dialog with the art form. The symbolic elements are given meaning only through dialog in the viewers mind. Thus, there is a connection between the search for understanding about existence, and the narratives which we each create in that search.

Throughout much of history, artists have been paid by wealthy patrons to realistically depict famous battles, coronations, legends and mythology. However, there has also been a continuing artistic tendency to express abstract meaning, forms, emotions or universal truths. In our times, the polarization between these two is obvious, with each having separate venues and audiences. In my art, I explore a middle path, which I call Symbolic Narrative. Symbolic Narrative allows the viewer to create personal stories with meaning, through dialog with symbolic forms in the painting.

In the 18th century, Romanticism revolted against aristocratic norms, elevating individual emotion and imagination, and proclaiming freedom from historical realist narrative. In the 19th century, the symbolist movement in art continued the rejection of historical realist art, instead aiming to capture absolute ideals or truths. Their symbols were often obscure and ambiguous, referring to greater ideas that could not be expressed simply. Abstract Expressionism was a direct descendant of symbolist painting.

Abstract Expressionism attempted to move entirely away from narrative, and artists worked to find combinations and arrangements of material with the goal of expressing significant form without story. Yet, even the abstract expressionists offered highly developed stories about the how and why of their paintings. The stories were external to the paintings, but they were still stories. Thus, instead of exploring the narratives of human life directly in their art, the abstract expressionists created works of art that became objects in the larger narratives of the culture.

The Symbolic Narrative approach bridges narrative realism with symbolic expression, without linking to specific historical events or obscure symbols, enabling the individual to create personal narratives with meaning through dialog with symbolic forms in the painting.