When I first learned to paint after my accident, I wanted to get down on paper the images and colors that were flying through my consciousness. I later became aware that I had Acquired Savant Syndrome, which occurs in an extremely small percentage of the population after a traumatic injury. To date, there are fewer than a hundred “Acquireds” in the world. I didn’t know what I was experiencing, so my goal was to exercise the colors, if you will.
When I got home from rehab, the flood of ideas and compulsion to paint continued. At this point, I paid homage to the greats I had studied, including Pollock, Kandinsky, Reinhardt, Klein, Herring, etc. while adding my own personal spin. My inspiration was primarily the use of colors that didn’t necessarily go together. I wanted to experiment to further understand why, all of a sudden, I was able to paint.
It was at this point that I started using latex paint. I became enamored with dripping and squirting it from tubes. After my first solo show in early 2020, I decided that I needed to find my own style, and reflected on all of the things that interested me. I have never wanted to use the emotions from the accident as inspiration. What I came back to each time was my love for archaeology, from ancient alphabets and symbols, to pottery and architecture.
When I combined that with my lifelong interest in Chaos Theory (from weather and traffic patterns to currents and wave development) plus irregular color combinations, it all came together.