I have been working with a "wax" in one form or another since the '60's.  The material, as it stands alone , is beautiful and  very seductive.  The idea of being both liquid and solid in a matter of seconds seems to hold such power in the natural world.  Historically beeswax has held a number of incarnations and was used not only for healing, but as a preservative, used in lighting rooms and to render portraits of the Pharaohs so they could be recognized in the after life.  I have used a form of wax to create sculptures to be cast in bronze,  to make candles of multi colored wax, as well as a combination of wax and paper to create  translucent papers that I make images on, and most recently as a vehicle for colored pigment in my encaustic paintings.  


I do not know exactly when making images with wax occurred in my life, but I do know it is very familiar to me, it is a material that feels very "right" as I dig into it or imbed material or image within it, at  the different stages, from liquid to solid .  I do remember , as a young child , holding beeswax in my hands to warm it and then manipulate it into a small "sweet smelling animal" , subsequently,  I also remember  hearing a completely random comment of..."mind your own beeswax" -- now what exactly did that mean?  The wax does seem to have a life of it's own considering its unpredictability factor -- for instance a person would have a hard time stopping the movement of  hot liquid wax, as it cools and solidifies, the wax decides where and when it will harden, if the surface will be smooth or textured or if it will encase a bubble of liquid within itself.   It is that time element that attracts me to painting with with wax.  I am attracted to  the fact that the pigment, while added to the wax, only floats within the wax --  it never becomes one until it solidifies, and even then the wax is still  appears separate or unique and the pigment is just an addition to  color the translucence of the wax.  Seems a very powerful material in it's duality, and holds much PFM, pure magic. 


Since around 1996 the pieces  I had in process were experiments of what could physically be done with the  combination of materials and processes I felt compelled  to work with.   In my art I seem to gravitate towards the more physical processes such as, using a torch to melt steel, copper, bronze and now wax.  I have discovered that my background in the many different printmaking techniques I know and work in, as well as the carving of wood and welding and forging of steel have had much influence on how I approach my encaustic "paintings".  Just a note, the encaustics are not separate from the sculpture, I work between the 2 dimensional as well as the 3 dimensional work, one process begets another .  While I still tend to work in a series, the ideas come fast and furious and to consider them separate from each other does not make sense to me, so I work until the word or idea , or combination of materials run out of possibilities.    Much like my writing, the encaustic work just runs on until it's done.  With that last comment in mind  please take some time to view some of the following works in wax and of some that have grown from  " just an encaustic painting",  to a collectanea of sculptural works that include some idiosyncratic materials as well. 
vjk, 2010