This paper documents the execution and exhibition of a group of oil paintings exploring themes of spectacle and the construction of reality in contemporary American society. The paintings are composed of figures and fragments of text originating in stills taken from television news and reality TV. This paper describes and assesses the paintings according to a set of questions developed by the artist at the inception of the project. Various strategies employed in the execution of the work are analyzed and compared. The contribution of this project to the field of contemporary visual art is evaluated via comparison with other art, past and present, expressing similar concerns.

The reason for this paper is to present a study of several commercial clear sprays used to affect drying of artists' oil paint. A number of tests were conducted in order to discover which spray might achieve optimum drying without inhibiting creative efforts. After the initial experiments, or "test panels," the information derived was used to complete the remaining panels required for the creative project.

Chapter I describes how my works are grounded in a Chinese point of view, based on sociological and anthropological approaches as defined in my work. The questions in my Statement of Problem deal with how I use "imbalance" in my works, yet still find a way to make acceptable compositions to better tell my stories. I relate how my work constitutes a positive act or event in an evolving world culture. Chapter II discusses the work I focused around the questions posed in Chapter I. Chapter III expresses my conclusion about my work and my goals for the future.

The problem being considered in this paper is the alienation of the general viewer from contemporary art. Modern art has become less understandable than ever before to the non-art audience because it has, in many cases, ceased to deal with human-oriented subject matter, and has become detached from life. This paper examines ways in which modern art might be made more accessible to the world through the artists' use of emotion, intuition, intelligence, and other Humanistic elements as content for paintings. It contains a four-part proposal of what Humanist art is. The basic form is the use of rhetorical questions about modern art, leading one to more questions and to a broader, more open-minded attitude toward modern art.

My approach to the art making process is a kind of poetic reverie on forms and spaces. Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary defines reverie as “a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing; a daydream, a fantastic, visionary or unpractical idea.” It is a romantic notion that has less to do with the big questions of existence than it does the incidental parts of daily existence. Reverie is a state of mind that comes from being receptive and finding simple pleasure in the affects of imagination. My paintings, drawings and sculpture evolve out of the freedom to imagine shapes and spaces that describe different kinds of interactions. They come from recollection, awareness, and observation of the diverse sensual phenomena that surrounds me. The variety of interactions between forms such as contrast, imbalance, balance or synchronicity, have the potential to evoke various aspects of being: vulnerability, uncertainty, confidence, and determination. Possible interactions between shapes and spaces are what intrigue me most. Recently, I expanded the investigation of form to include objects and consideration of space. As the scale of my paintings and drawings grew, I became interested in the effects of three-dimensional objects in a space, such as a gallery. My inquiry …

I believe that our individual religious experiences are just that, individual. Each of us has a different reaction to every narration, sermon, situation, and experience. Further, I believe these experiences are understood and maintained in or through abstract thought. In the parable of Jonah and the whale, what do you picture while reading the story? Most of what took place lacks any physical evidence of existence. The voice of the Spirit, the face of God, the sound of prayer in multitude, even the person begin swallowed by the fish, are all abstract in character. My paintings are visual investigations into the idea that most of our religious experiences and concepts are abstract in nature, thought, and experience. Continuing my exploration of how my specific Christian experiences can be expressed through abstract painting, I investigated how the placement of the ellipse or ellipses as a dividing line affects the field and how surface development, layering and the expressiveness of high intensity colors affected the specific experience or Biblical narrative chosen.

The problem concerning this investigation is determining some of the possibilities of combining painting, architectonic constructions, and shadows produced by the controlled lighting of the structure. Chapter I is a brief history of experimentations in these areas during the twentieth century. This history assists in defining what has been done in the past, and reveals some directions for the future. Chapter II concerns three areas of study 1) the selection of the constructed forms mounted on canvas panels, 2) the lighting experimentations and their results, 3) the use of painted shadows to create an ambiguous pattern. This research concludes that a synthesis of these various art elements is not only possible, but aesthetically pleasing.

Recently my creative process has led to a new area of investigation and exploration. I have discovered that I enjoy the unexpected occurrences that happen while painting. I have an appreciation for the parts of my works that do not follow the preliminary sketch and are produced more subconsciously. While usually this aspect has been restricted by the adherence to a preliminary sketch and narrative, the new works explore these occurrences more fully. In the new works, I worked in a more spontaneous manner to create work that does not focus strictly on narrative but reveals itself more as a journey or exploration.