One University art professor observed that looking at my
shoescape paintings as a group made him feel a little "creepy". I
wasn't unhappy at all with that response although it isn't intended for all
viewers. There is something oddly intimate about feet even though they are one
of the most publicly displayed parts of our body in our current culture. The
perspective in many of the paintings places the viewer at the feet of the woman
suggesting a shoe fetish voyeur's point of view. This may be the source of my
friend's discomfort. Some of the paintings also intentionally depict the woman
larger than life intensifying the effect.
I see the paintings as part portrait, part landscape, and
part still life. I want the viewer to see specific things, such as the veins,
muscles, tendons, points of stress, and details of the often-hazardous
surroundings. To me, these are beautiful. I feel that depicting women in this
way reflects a modern aesthetic embracing the toughness, resiliency, and raw
reality of woman as an organism. This aesthetic is reflected in modern images of
women as athletic, sinewy, and earthly. It is consistent with new body images
that accept the body’s natural features, even those that were previously
perceived as flaws. Think: women on the television series "Survivor"
or "Fear factor".
Women's shoes are also descriptive of contemporary women.
While often delicate and feminine looking, they must be exceptionally strong to
survive the great stress of every stride. Shoes today suggest a greater range of
possibilities for women than 30 years ago. Women may be seen wearing everything
from "Doc Martens" army boots to trendy platforms and stiletto heels
of four inches and up.
The idea of doing portraits of feet and shoes has been
with me a long time. An axiom for writers is “write what you know”. The same
might be said for visual artists. I know shoes from my long-time interest in
shoe design and three years selling women’s shoes. From that experience I came
to understand the myriad and powerful feelings women attach to shoes.
Shoes are highly symbolic of human existence and have
been documented throughout history and literature. To be wealthy is to be
"well heeled". Selling shoes I learned that many women have strong
feelings toward their feet both positive and negative. For some women at least
part of the energy spent shoe shopping was an attempt to camouflage a perceived
flaw. For one close friend, the mere mention of the word “toes” made her
uncomfortable. For others, the mood-altering shoe shopping experience is a form
of medication, a psychological lift when dresses and other clothes don't fit.
High heels, at first condemned by Feminism as
‘hobbling’, have been revised as symbols of feminine power. My paintings are
intended to reflect a post-feminist aesthetic where women perceive and project
themselves as athletic, confident, and powerful, but with enough ambiguity to
allow for interpretations of misogyny, exploitation, and vulnerability.
As a painter, I did not set out to be a realist or
hyperrealist. What I wanted was for the viewer to share my sensual response to
the surfaces of flesh, leather, metal, and cacti. Realism, at present, is how I
strive to get there, but by no means the only pathway. My painting technique
continues to evolve. I use photography to create and compose images. The
limitations of photography are compensated by observation and studying multiple
views. I depict unlimited depth of
field, with near, mid and far ground in focus, more faithful to human vision
than the fixed focal plane of photography. I also want the viewer to appreciate
the stark beauty of the desert and bright light and contrast of the Southwestern
U.S.