As an academic art historian with a specialty in Japanese culture, I gained the insights of traditional Asian aesthetics, especially two Japanese concepts, first that of Joyo, or resonance, which is the expressive power of simplicity, suggestion and nuance in poetic expression.
 
The second is the concept of Yugen, the main aesthetic basis of Japanese Noh theatre, which is based on Zen principles. This dramatic tradition expresses the interaction between the externals of appearance and the dark, hidden, mysterious inner nature of the self, especially that of woman, who is seen as unknowable through rational processes, glimpsed only through artistic experience.

The core of Yugen is a set of aesthetic concepts beginning with Hana, meaning flower or blossom, which refers to external beauty visually perceived.  It is that which attracts.  It came to mean elegance or grace, such as that expressed by the aristocrat with his regal bearing.  But it evolved to signify lingering charm or suggestiveness, and was considered the ideal of beauty for classical poetry called Waka, the 31 syllable form written by the courtier. It indicated a subtle, haunting beauty in the heart, a beauty difficult to know directly.  Only the indirect means of art could reveal its essence.  It is the subjective experience of the human being, who viewing the external forms of superficial beauty, finds true beauty beneath the surface.

To create the images with which to embody and evoke these very abstract concepts, I use a multiplicity of intertwined objects, often a flower or other organic forms, and a setting, a fragment of a location experienced first-hand from extensive world travel.  This is my stage on which the personal drama unfolds.  Often an image of a figure is present, but if not, the evocative visual images, their forms, their colors and textures challenge the viewer to go within the self, where truth and beauty ultimately lie.

I use the computer to design my paintings and graphics.  The images printed out become my sketches for guiding the painting hand.  Thus the images exist in both printed and painted forms, often in multiple versions of the same basic compositions.

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