Born in 1955 and raised in Santa Monica California I was intrigued by the Psychledelic Poster Art of the 60's, Optical Art and Pop Art. While attending Junior Colleges and The San Francisco Art Institute in the late 70's I found my passion, making Art.
As a Fine Art Major at Sonoma State University I found great peace of mind in the rural Sonoma County and my biggest inspiration Wassily Kandinsky. The ease of William Morehouse's teaching process enabled me to see the many facets of Fine Art and its critique. Jay Defeo's outside of the box approach to her own art while not discarding the basics of drawing that she taught showed me the importance of fundamentals to all genres of Art.
In 1982 I entered the workaday world and became a house painter. In 1989 I got my Painting Contractors License from the State of California and learned the ups and downs of running a business. During this time I pursued my Art by participating in Galleries, shows and developed my skills in Murals, Custom Finishes and Decorative Furniture Painting.
In 1994 I relocated to Southern California and by the late 90's specialized in Custom Finishes and Murals (
www.WhitneyStudios.org) while still continuing to make my Art, participating in local Art Festivals and Group Shows.
Having met my wife Sue, an Artist, we had a dream of living in a forrest and in 2016 we found our current home and studio.We both believe that Art whether visual, musical, or dramatic, is an expression of the spirit that evokes feelings and ideas in others.
Abstract: Formed with designs taken from real things or imagined realities.
Symbolism: The use of symbols to give meaning or significance.
Abstract Symbolism: Art that is formed with designs taken from real or imagined things that are symbols which provide meaning or significance.
A picture of Jesus on a cross painted by a child. The picture is formed from designs of real things that provide the viewer with significances. To some it represents God, to others a man on a cross. The meaning varies as to each viewers experiences, and of course the artists.
Abstract Symbolism is a movement to give a better understanding of Art and encompasses many styles and mediums. Born out of the Abstract Expressionist movement, seen as an American movement developed from the Avante Guard European world of the early 1900's, which roots came from the European culture of the late 1800's. At that time the spiritualism of man was being newly explored and expressed. If the collapse of the Monarchies had not led to the suppression of the spirit from Facism and Communism, Art would have progressed with the spiritual nature of man. Abstract Symbolism can help pick up the pieces.
The spiritual nature of man has been expressed in art since day one, why else would we have a language to communicate our feelings and beliefs. In Abstract Symbolism we are dealing with the mind as we wish to understand better Art. The mind is a part of the spirituality of man. If you consider the idea of spirit, mind and body, Art is the expression made by the body using the mind as originated by the spirit. This premise has more acceptance now than at any previous time in history and perhaps more ramifications than our culture has considered.
Artistic movements typically are the cultures method of identifying styles of Art, weather its musical, dramatic, or visual, you have Rock'n Roll, Melodrama, Impressionism. Of course it is not as important to the artist as it is to the viewing public whos’ thirst to identify will never cease. Abstract Symbolism may just be another label, but it can further explain the purposes that Art endeavors to give us all. When someone looks at a piece of Art and says "what does that Art really mean?" well, the viewer needs to look and see, possibly his mind has no relative ideas to associate and perhaps it indeed means nothing, yet it does exist as Art which in itself is an abstraction from the mind of the Artist and if it means nothing perhaps we are looking at a zero, but what kind of zero?, is it black and white?, does it have any color?, is it neatly done or just scribbled out in paint? Its symbolism shows us beauty or the lack of it. "Oh yes, I see it now......... its Abstract Symbolism!"
Abstract Painting is a language of form, color, lines, and delineations that communicate ideas of energy, feelings, and realities experienced by the viewer and the artist. Beauty is given new life through images uncommon to the utilitarian world we find ourselves in. For over thirty years I have been drawing and painting my images, inspired by Kandinsky, and The Abstract Expressionists. The list of Artists who do inspire me work in the realm of Beauty never before expressed. The energies of my paintings are my symbols, words put together, to give the viewer an idea, feeling, or perhaps a sense of beauty.
