Early Paintings and Works on Paper

1970–1983

This group of paintings and works on paper reveal a formative period in my development as an artist. Created between 1970 and 1983, the works reflect an ongoing investigation of color, gesture, structure, and psychological tension through abstraction and periodically figuration.

The earliest works explore formal relationships of color and composition, while later pieces introduce fragmentation, movement, and layered accumulations of form. Torn-paper constructions, gestural drawings, and expressive figurative imagery reveal an emerging interest in transformation, perception, and emotional experience. Throughout the work, abstract and representational elements coexist, often dissolving into one another.

Although stylistically diverse, these pieces establish concerns that continue throughout my practice: the use of color as an experiential force, the tension between order and disruption, and the search for visual forms capable of carrying psychological and symbolic meaning.

Included in this period is Demons Without Faces, acquired by Joseph H. Hirshhorn through a Washington Project for the Arts benefit auction, an early recognition of the work within the Washington art community.