Phoenix Art Museum Interview

INTERVIEW
1981 FOUR CORNERS STATES BIENNIAL EXHIBITION PHOENIX ART MUSEUM




		PHAEDRUS / Acrylic on Canvas / 40" X 40"
	How important is specific subject matter to your art?

		Sometimes my work is mainly about light, sometimes mainly form, at other times color. Sometimes it is even mainly about cows or horses. Always, to some extent, it is about all these things, as well as design, textures, other art, myself, my Southwestern heritage, today, life, death, mystery, and everything else.

	The cropping of your works is obviously intentional. Beyond adding compositional strength to the work, are there specific attitudes or emotions you attempt to portray?

		I use cropping to enhance the viewer's involvement as well as to eliminate extraneous areas. In the watercolor PAYSON STEERS, for example, if I had brought the edge of the image out to encompass the entire horn on the right, there would have been an imbalance created by too much background. On paper I had room to include all of the horn. In dealing with the edge of a canvas, however, I would have chosen to sacrifice part of the horn. Control of relationships between parts of the image and the edge of the canvas also gives me greater control of the illusion of depth.

	Do you paint on site or do you collect ideas from sketches and photographs?

		I usually work from a combination of photographs, sketches and imagination. I am not concerned with replication of the photograph, but rather use it as a means of collecting information and suggesting compositional possibilities, etc.

	During our studio visit you made the comment that acrylic is too slow a medium for you. This is the opposite of what one would expect. Could you elaborate on your statement?

		I really meant to say that, while acrylics dry faster than oils, it takes much longer for me to achieve the desired effects, especially in my ability to glaze. A race car is faster than a four-wheel drive, but there are fewer places it can take you to as quickly.

	Taking into consideration the subject matter of your work and the fact that you are a native Arizonan, is it fair to classify you as a Western artist?

		Since Artist seems too vague for most people, and North East Scottsdale Artist is a bit too specific, I suppose that would be fair. But I would prefer western Artist to Western artist.