“BELIEF SYSTEMS” Series Description

(2020 – Present)

Belief systems – by definition, a set of principles or tenets that form the foundation of a religion, philosophy, or moral code – have always fascinated me both culturally and personally. They shape who we become, often without us noticing the patterns they create.

This ongoing abstract series was sparked in 2020 by my wife Jennifer Columbus and her fearless approach to painting. Watching her work with total freedom – no destination, no rules – liberated my own process. Her expressionistic energy became the heartbeat of this body of work.

Each painting is deliberately loose and gestural. Layers of color and texture collide with a recurring motif: three circles. These circles are never accidental. They symbolize the cycles, loops, and repeated patterns that belief systems imprint on our lives. The surrounding abstraction is an act of rebellion – a visual shattering of rigidity, dogma, and inherited limits.

While the work remains primarily non-representational, the three-circle signature appears somewhere on every canvas: sometimes bold and central, sometimes ghostly and submerged. It is the quiet anchor in the storm of paint.

Through explosive mark-making, dripping aerosol, and raw acrylic pours, these paintings are my meditation on how beliefs bind us… and how art can set us free.