"Toleration" has become a kind of collective psychic miasma in which differences that might be disturbing are not so much accepted or rejected or even examined very closely, but are simply neutralized. Its corollary is an unarticulated feeling of general malaise - a dim sense that everything may not be so rosy as many seem to be struggling so hard to believe. Or, at best, a kind of generalized grumbling, like farmers on the weather. On the surface an era dominated by `positive thinking' ours is really a time of an almost crippling lack of convictions." (86)
Thomas Albright

"And where have all the brave young talents gone?" Where were the hole-in-the-wall knock-outs that made festivals of yesteryear such an adventure?
They've gone to ghastly art association group shows that actively encourage mediocrity, or else to boring public art projects that give artistic expression a bad rep.
... The visual result, for the most part, is a hybrid called mall art - interior decoration on a grand scale. And the overpowering message is that safe, middle-of-the-road art for easy viewing is something to celebrate. The problem is that it's impossible to get excited about..." (87)
Elizabeth Beauchamp



Upon hearing that I did larger works, a hotel owner came to visit to see if he could find something suitable for over his hotel lobby desk. Seeing all of my paintings with figures in them he asked "Do you have any florals... we don't want anything that will offend the customers."

I have never thought of my paintings as offensive, strong statements maybe. I have also heard the comment that it's difficult for people to see the work of really good artists.



86. Thomas Albright, On Art and Artists, (U.S.A., The Chronicle Publishing Co. 1989), p.186
87. Elizabeth Beauchamp, Edmonton Journal, (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1991)