Rete-chrome is my word for both the particular series of connected processes and the resulting artwork that have been my focus for the past eight years. Pronounced rět-ě-krōm: it is derived from rete, Latin for net; and chrome, Greek for color. My method involves applying layers of pigment, both directly (as in painting) and indirectly (as in printmaking) to attain images on an open-weave backing.

Qualities of transparency, translucency and opacity are essential aspects of the rete-chromes. The open-weave backing allows for the modulation of light throughout the image. In response to the thickness, opacity and layering of paint and of woven support the light flows or is blocked in varying degrees. This in turn produces complex cast shadows resulting in a rich interplay between image and environment. Ranging in size from miniature to monumental, my rete-chromes have been widely exhibited; as individual pieces and as elements in larger installations.

For over three decades, light and shadow have consistently played a central role in my work, whether in three-dimensional animation or multi-media installation, printmaking or sculpture. An extensive early apprenticeship as a marble carver in Italy heightened my sensitivity to degrees of translucency and to the role of light modulation in the creation and perception of form. While human figures were the subject of my carvings, evocative walls and doorways of the Italian countryside, villages and cities as revealed by the rich Mediterranean light, were the subject of my etchings and relief sculptures. The walls seemed to me the embodiment of communal history – a compendium of ancient to contemporary experience.