As an American who was raised in the Evangelical Christian Grace Brethern Church, I am a "gay conversion therapy" survivor. I demand absolute truth in myself and in my work. There are holes in my memory that obscure the events experienced in gay conversion. I manifest this truth in my paintings.

This ongoing body of work, "Camouflage," is about masks; it is about duality; it is about the hidden forces and energies in our universe; it is also about fighting for oneself, finding oneself, dealing with pain and grief, healing, and finding strength and peace.

Animals, including the human kind, adopt camouflage in an attempt to protect against attack. I dealt with the feeling of being under attack before I really understood that that was, actually, what was happening. The sense of confusion and disintegration engendered by this is depicted quite literally one of the works. Other works explore the trying on of different identities in an attempt both to hide myself (from others and from myself), to fit into more welcoming subcultures, and to find out what is real in me. The work entitled "The Warrior" shows the scars of battle on the one hand, and the growing awareness and contentment of knowing who I am on the other. In the last piece in the series there is a peace, a connection with my past realities, with nature, and with the universe as a whole. Perhaps this life itself is just camouflage.

I approached these paintings in a surrealistic manner. Although of course many artists have influenced my work, in that vein I see influences of Magritte and DuChamp among others. I abstract on a bridge of shapes and forms, limiting my palette to the colors of camouflage, which blend into the environment, and draw no attention from predators or prey. Viewers might think this is 3 bodies of work - they would be right. They have a common denominator: They are a result of an American horror story enacted together in 3 parts. I have already come out; I am shedding my camouflage. I am camaflogged.

One technical thing I would like to mention is that I intend my work to be healing to the viewer, not just challenging. Drawing on my skills as a Reiki Master, I have infused healing energies into ground gemstone powders which I have incorporated into my oil paints. For example, I have incorporated actual malachite in the greens I have used throughout this series. Thus the work does have a different impact emotionally when experienced in person. I believe and intend for that to be always a feature of my work.