HAASTYLE, INC. JUNE 2009 INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your art?  Or the
message that it communicates?

For me, true creativity and life thrives when I am completely immersed
in the moment, without distraction;  fully engaged mind and body in
the natural flow of the present.  My easiest connection to this state
is through the surrendering of self to beauty. Beauty is by far my
greatest artistic inspiration and it’s through a deep love of women
that my art finds an outlet of expression.

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2. Your work places a real emphasis on the female form.  What’s the
significance of this in your art?

My emphasis on the female form is not just a love of women or sex or
women as participants/guarantors of sex, and it is by no means a love
of women as objects.   My goal is to glorify and celebrate women as
beings– as entities with conscious existence and a definitive
essence.  I wish to portray in my art the essence of women– their
qualitites of mystery, eternity, perpetuity– the power of women as
creators contrasted with their fragility and gracefulness as bodies.
I look to communicate the creation aspects and the elements of
fertility without reducing everything a woman is to these. I try to
paint women as healthy and extended; to look open and as part of a
continuum — to look universal.  In order to achieve a universal
essence of the female form I tend to create my compositions without
definitive faces and stay mostly in a grayscale color palette.

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3. Can you tell us about your technical process?  How do you create
these pieces?

I begin by photographing a model in various poses and lighting
conditions. From there I go through the photos and isolate the images
that most inspire me. I will start drawing over the images enhancing
the natural flow of the pose. Here I begin pulling in organic folds,
lines,and curves that I envision to be present.  From this point, the
composition begins to take life and the mood and soul of the piece
makes itself known. From here I begin cropping it in different ways,
finally finding the best possibility that further expands the depth of
the composition.  Next I decide if I would rather have this
composition as a digital piece or a painting.  If it is a painting I
sketch out a canvas and begin. If it is a digital piece I pull the
photos into photoshop and through the course of hundreds of layers
begin the complex process of recreating the organic folds and curves
using photos of various fabrics and textures to blend seamlessly into
the flesh.

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4. You’ve begun integrating photography and mixed media into your
pieces.  How does that change the final product?

As I work on a painting I imagine it as an image that is out of
focus.  With each layer of paint that I apply the image gets clearer
and more refined. Integrating photography and computer work allows me
to take my vision one level higher in clarity.  In addition, this
integration of new media has also given me a more efficient way to
create a finished composition. If I run into a problem area while I’m
painting and something does not look as it should, I can photograph
the painting, pull it into photoshop and work through various
alternatives to resolve the problem more quickly.  For example,
lighting and contrast or repositioning images and forms; things that
would take hours to change if I was working directly on the canvas.

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5. Let’s talk about the upcoming motion/vision/transition show.  What
can you tell us about the  pieces you’ve chosen for this show?  Why
did you select these pieces?  Are they all new?  Or are they your most
popular? Or do they have a common look or theme?

The pieces I’ve chosen for the show are a combination of old and new
works. My aim is to give the viewer a brief overview of the evolution
of my art. The cohesive element that connects these pieces is the
fluid movement of organic forms and realist elements that has
developed over the years into my characteristic style.

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6. How does the theme of motion/vision/transition relate to your
artistic style and subject matter?

The theme completely encompasses the the vision of my art.  In essence
my art is taking a sublime vision of beauty, the female form, and
fusing it with an organic aqueous motion. It is within the
transitioning between these two elements that a
unique and harmonious conclusion of compositional balance finally emerges.