Artist Statement Art as I see it is a form of communication, and one as complex as any verbal language. It is this theme that I encapsulate in my paintings, of which the mouth is my primary subject. There is a bizarre contrast between the beauty of an utterance and the gnarling mass of flesh and teeth that articulates it. I have discovered the wet spittle of my mouthscapes in buttery thrashes of oil and glaze. My academic tendencies are manifested in a photo-real finish, though painterly allowances are certainly not absent. Themes of movement, time and text are prevalent in my series. Some of my images involve multiple view points to express the linear passage of speech through time. Others sport titles or painted transcriptions that assist in revealing their topic. In all there is an oral nucleus, speaking, biting, kissing or cursing at the viewer.