Drawings
Drawing of Hisako; conte, charcoal, pastel on Arches; 22” by 30”
“Drawing revealed to me who I am.”
Drawing has been at the center of my practice for as long as I can remember. The figure—and especially the female figure—has remained central to my work. The body is both a formal and emotional subject: endlessly variable, expressive, and capable of sustained invention. While drawing the nude is inevitably charged with social, sexual and personal meanings, my interest has always been in responding to sensual beauty. My models were collaborators, and the personality of the sitter shaped the character of the drawing.
About the Self-Portraits:
“Perhaps then we can find ourselves and see ourselves in the work of art.” — Max Beckmann
Artists return to self-portraiture for many reasons. For me, self-portraiture is less about likeness or self-regard than about an inquiry into the nature of the Self—identity not as appearance, but as presence. In my self-portraits, I sometimes include textual fragments drawn from meditation and study in the Dzogchen and Advaita traditions. These references reflect an interest in the paradox at the heart of self-portraiture: that to draw oneself is to forget the self. As Zen Master Dōgen wrote, “To study the Way is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.”
