Utopia – an ideal world where people experience the greatest good and the greatest happiness. This is something that I romanticize.

Before the realization of this on a global scale, it must be realized on a personal level. Within my own reality is the frontier where I test the plausibility of this position.

Daily I am faced with people and situations that come in all over the spectrum. Kind, rude, sensitive, insensitive, cheerful, miserable, coy, boisterous… There are countless ways of being in the world.

It is not my goal to transform people, or to force change in anyway. I suspect that one is responsible for changing oneself. The best I can hope to do is provide an example by which one would be inspired to transform their self.

I support, theoretically at least, everyone in the pursuit of real happiness. Even those who cause me to cringe and narrow my eyes, I can eventually come around and wish for their liberation.

There is a compassionate voice within me that continually encourages me to re-contextualize the most abhorrent behaviour as misguided attempts at happiness. This method of thinking allows me to exercise forgiveness even in the throws of blatant disrespect.

I acknowledge the incredible enigma that the universe is. So complex that it is ultimately unknowable by the human mind.

The complexity of the universe inspires me to reverence. Even this tiny portion of space that I have access to can instill such magic and mystery in me. It is a lifetime’s work to contemplate, appreciate, and identify the beauty.

I am an idealist, and I long to make tangible expressions of love, and beauty.

Although these words exist as ideas, I believe that we can allude to them with our lives and creations.

It seems that a life lived to that end would be well meaning, and that is what inspires most of my activity.

It is from a place of love that I choose to create. It is towards respect, truth, and the greatest good for the greatest number of people that I choose to participate in the world.

To understand my role in society is the ongoing effort of these reflections, and today, as I contemplate the role of the artist, I am assured of the necessity and relevance of my pursuit.

The world is filled with reactionary reductionists who fail to see the complexity of the human condition. Within the artwork I aim to hold space for understanding and contemplation of a more unifying truth.

There is a commonality that all beings share, and it is our shared experience of life itself.

At a fundamental level, we all participate in nature. We are born of the Earth and return to the Earth. We eat, drink, live on the same materials, and are subject to the same universal laws.

The divisions that we imagine, largely based on societal concepts are less fundamental to our existence than we may think.

With the art, I aim to connect, perhaps reconnect, to the fundamentals. First for a personal benefit, but also for the benefit of any who choose to interact with it.

I see the truths that unites us – the facts that ring true for all of us, and it is for the dissemination of those ideas that I create.

The world, the human experience is a precious one. We are given this gift of life, but there is rampant depression and negativity that inflict the citizens of this planet.

At times, the truth is so obvious that I question whether it really needs stating or not. But again I do declare that it is better to love one another than hate one another. And once making such a statement, I wonder if it is redundant to reiterate it? Right now, I think not.

I think people may need to hear this over and over again. I recognize that my art pretty much expresses this same fundamental truth in varying voices.

Above all, the art encourages reverence for life. And within that position it postures love for all of the planet and its people as the most logical behaviour. If one is truly committed to the greatest good for all, the realization of utopia, then one must be ready to react with love in all situations.

Easier said than done.

How’s that for reductionist? As complex and vast as the universe is, the answer is always love. There are many expressions of love. Love may be quiet and slow, or loud and fast, but the intention is what must be aligned. While the actions differ, the thought is for the harmonization of the whole.

Love is the desire to bring understanding in order to reconcile negativities. It encourages acceptance and reason in order to create real happiness on the planet.