2019  •  20 x 16"  Show size

Acrylic on canvas

My work as an artist is very much the work of a medium and a conjurer. For each of my paintings, I begin with a name. I hear in the world the name of a dog, an untethered dog spirit floating in between existence and non-existence. From the moment I know the dog’s name, Ahab in this case, I spend all my energy to love it, to accept it, to hold its existence gracefully in my heart. And then, to give her some sense of hope or at least some sense of place within a narrative, I wonder aloud in my mind what will happen to her. While doing this special kind of active wondering, I draw three cards from a freshly shuffled tarot deck. I have no training in tarot and read the cards using visual intuition on behalf of the spirit I am helping to exist. I learn as the dog spirit learns about her future life and fortune. As a final act of incarnation in the mode of Kaoru Arima, I paint Ahab, a portrait of her face, to capture the moment when she learns the news about her future. This moment, for me, is everything: the moment when she learns, when she feels, when Ahab becomes herself, when Ahab emerges into a new form within my painting. I hope your relationship with Ahab can be as fulfilling as mine has been.