In the artist's own words
There is bad art, good art, and even great art, but most of it isn't interesting art. If you go through any of the large art museums, you will find some rooms crowded and most rooms empty. I believe that the art that draws the crowds is the interesting art, and that is what I aim for
Most of my current pictures start with a digital photograph. I work on these images without a definite plan, experimenting until I produce an interesting image. Sometimes I know what I'm looking for when I begin. Sometimes I trust to fortune. I've developed many techniques, but I try to remain open to new tools and techniques that lead down unexplored paths.
Most photographs strive for total accuracy and realism and this makes them less interesting. There is too much information. The Impressionists discovered the secret of removing some of the information from a picture. Each viewer recreates a different view of the artist's vision and this makes the picture more personal.
There are many things that can be done to an image, once it is in the computer, to achieve a more interesting look. You can use retouching to remove defects, and you can correct the color or the contrast. The most interesting thing you can do is to remove some of the information from the image so that it is more like a painting. At one end of the spectrum is total realism. At the other end is total abstraction. I try to place my images into this spectrum at the point where it is the most interesting.
I also try to vary the techniques I use, just like Picasso and Man Ray. I think that these artists got bored with a technique and moved on to new things. There is always the danger that an artist will develop a style and then be forever typed by that style.
I try to keep my images both strong and simple. I try to invent new techniques, not just for variation, but to open new ways of seeing an image.
I believe that this is a new form of art. It is a combination of photography, computers, new materials, and traditional methods. I have created an impressionist art movement for the 21st century.
