Being asked what my art represents is a question to which I do not have a ready-made answer. Independent of the subject matter or medium, the mastering of a technique is at the heart of my work. I was fortunate to have met, early on in my career, two masters: Henri H. Gowa, the pigment specialist, who shared his knowledge and taught me the technique of medieval colors and Frans Masereel who taught me graphic art and how to render luminosity through black and white surfaces. If my oil paintings are a celebration of color (mineral colors applied with a palette knife onto a hard gesso board), in my black and white period, I have experimented and adapted the techniques of woodcut to ink drawing, enabling me to use larger surfaces. Each of the mediums becomes a vehicle through which I express a spontaneity that combines traditionalism with realism.
