Artist Statement - Jerry

My work has never had one clear message because my work has always been about curiosity, exploration, and wonderment. I have been too curious about art as a whole to put myself in one place. Put another way – I have always been a Jack of all trades and an Ace of none. I have been a playwright, author, actor, photographer, musician, videographer, graphic designer, sculptor, and luthier – all to no great effect. My work has always been just that – work-man like. My work speaks of the curiosity that hands and heart and brains can make when put to one idea - but not to any one message, medium, or goal. There is no common thread that I can discern.
I have always prided myself on my lack of vision. As an artist I have always been more interested in the journey of discovering what a pixel, a guitar or a chunk of wood can become when I filter it through my brain and my experience. I very rarely set off with an artistic goal in mind. That goes for an individual piece or ‘art’ as a whole.

As a human I am inspired by almost all art that I come across but as a craftsman I am inspired by artists who take the usual and show you how to make it unusual. I am respectful of the artist who discards all the rules to great effect –someone who turns black to white in their chosen milieu - but I am more interested in artists who bend the rules to show us a slightly different viewpoint.

My influences run the gamut from Joe Pass, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Dave Navarro to Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, and Peter Shaffer to Alfred Stieglitz, Annie Leibovitz, and Dorothea Lange, to Paul Reed Smith, Ken Parker and the National Guitars Company.

Moving forward, my art will probably continue to meander like it has for the last 20 years. I continue to find interest in wondering “what does this do?” or “How do you do that?” If my past work has taught me anything it is that I don’t know what will interest me next until I get my hands dirty with whatever it turns out to be.