Artist Statement
In one's own museum

Out there in the world are all these things you see. They come and they go. You look at them and you like them or you do not like them. But you have to process what you see in the same way. And there I am too, seeing things. Maybe the same things you see but I also see you and I see how you look at things and I wonder how you feel about that and what you see when you are looking.

Your steady gaze makes me curious. I can see that you feel something and I wonder what you feel. Because I don't feel anything, I am just an observer and my eyes don't have any emotions. So when I look at you, I follow the train of perception from the outside to deep within you. I watch your feelings change. Suddenly I am no Ionger an observer and I get this urge to see it all as you are seeing it. If the border between outside and inside becomes more transparent, why should not the border between you and me begin to melt?

You are my refIecting spot. By taking in what you feel when you are looking, I can begin to expand my understanding of myself. And so, I use the mirror as a tool for an inquiry into my relationship with the world. The process of painting multiple images of myself expands my knowledge what a picture really stands for.

April 1998