EVERYTHING IS OK
Exhibition Statement

In 2008 I began to renew my interest in American patchwork quilts and implement methods of quilt construction in my painting.  My usual painting practice at that point was of working from the center-out but that method had run its course.  Quilts are appealing to me because they play by different rules of painting while still being involved in the same game of image making.  The rules of quilting were mysterious to me and I wanted to know if they could be translated into painting.

As I was getting involved in this activity of quilt deconstruction I lost my father to cancer.  Very shortly after his passing my wife and I made a sojourn to Philadelphia to attend an exhibition of quilts from Gee’s Bend.  It was the first time that I witnessed these masterpieces in the flesh, and it was the first time that I saw beyond the image of the quilts and actually saw the fabric itself. 

Worn clothing holds memory - a history of emotions.  Never had this idea been so clear to me than while standing in front of and enveloped by the quilts of Gee’s Bend.  On going back to my father’s house to remove his possessions it became clear to me that I needed to use his clothing to make my own quilts to remember him.

With all of my interest in quilts, I never imagined I would actually make one; my only intention was to steal all that I could from them for my painting.  Suddenly, with my father’s clothing I had opportunity and reason to depart from and to extend my usual artistic practice.  Now that I am creating a series of quilts (the first three of which are in the exhibition) I am challenged to understand the potential for the quilt’s construction as well as their meaning as artistic and historical objects.

As the series of quilts progresses I continue to paint and make other works of art.  At this point the two activities of painting and quilting are informing one other, each is acting as a study for the next work.   The sculptural elements of the exhibition are not following the formal lineage of the quilts and paintings but are taking up the ideas of memory and history.

The title of my exhibition is intended as welcome sign to visitors of the gallery.  The overtly simple phrase can be extended in many directions but I hope that at some level it can aid in suspending fear and anxiety for a moment and allow for a focused and pleasurable visual experience.  Everything is OK.