Artist’s Statement

My paintings and prints of organic patterns convey a vastness reminiscent of nature. They expand beyond their edges like landscapes flow beyond our field of vision. The succession of waves, dunes, or trees suggests more of them, while their individuality and irregular arrangements captivate us. My invented patterns borrow this poetic interplay between expectation and surprise set out by repetition and unevenness.

To further understand the dynamic of nature’s patterns, I turned to science. I understood that nature’s shapes are not random, dunes look different on Mars because the gravity is weaker. In “On Form and Growth”, Wentworth Thompson explains how beehives are but the most efficient way for bees to store honey. Hans Meinhardt, a mathematician, wrote about the algorithms of shell patterns. Yet, we cannot fully explain these shapes within rational frameworks. Both scientists found that nature is creative, and its forms don’t all arise from the laws of physics or biological utility.

This emboldened my skepticism of reason and aversion to systems and precise geometry. They clearly cannot contain all of nature’s mystery. Grid-based patterns are predictable and devoid of surprise. The next yard of fabric or tiles is identical to the first. The infinity of the grid in Islamic arts’ patterns is all but contained in bold frames. Its underlying Neoplatonist aesthetic impresses on the beholder a pervasive order to which all must submit. Submission is not my quest. Freedom is.

Hence my fascination with large open spaces. My impulse is “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, as Blake put it. As a painter, I am rooted in the aesthetic experience of poetry. My abstraction echoes its intangible mental images, and my patterns recall its rhythmic play. Above all, I value its unruly spirit, which to me expresses the reason-defying nature within us.