Anonymous female figures, smoking cigarettes, lamps without shades and the high contrast of black and white create a mystery and tension in my work that is inspired by classic film noir of the 40's and 50's. In using the symbols and gestures of the film medium I hope to create in charcoal a sense of pyschological isolation and apprehension that represents the anxiety experienced in by all of us in our alienating world of technological sociability.
I envision the scene for each work by doing a series of quick graphite sketches. I use these sketches to stage a pseudo film still with actors and settings that I then photograph. I use these photographs as reference for the final charcoal drawings.