Notes on Interiors

I have been exploring the subject of interior spaces for five years. But my visual obsession with interiors goes back many decades, likely beginning with Goodnight Moon. As a toddler, I recall being captivated by that room as it grew progressively darker and the light of the lamps more illuminated.  My family was suffering a tragedy at the time. I believe that the cozy bedroom in the story became a refuge – and therein set a lifelong pattern of escaping to rendered rooms, particularly those that capture the hope of the lighted spaces and the pathos of the dark, a visual encapsulation of life as I have experienced it.  As an older child and a young adult, I turned to Matisse, Vuillard, Bonnard, Hopper, among the others who recognized the humanity of the subject.  Most of my work thus far speaks of life between the walls of domesticity, the arrangement of beloved objects in still-life and portraits.  I have spent a lifetime seeking those objects, using the four walls of a room like a blank canvas, creating spaces of comfort and awe. These interiors are my self-portraits. They tell my story and with hope, others will want to enter these empty rooms (save a dog or two) and find refuge.