W ords and visual images are inextricably linked; were this not so, there would be no need for artist's statements or titles: we could remain silent. Through words we put all things into perspective. A different title can make us think differently about a piece. There is still much I don't understand about the way I work, or even think. I do know, however, that I enjoy doing what I am doing; that I am touched by a wide range of influences, and that truth is the only beautiful thing. All the great artists of the past are dead. Only we remain. From the ashes and crumbled rock we glean words and phrases to make our own statements. The baton has been passed to our hands; not only by great artists, but by all our forebears, upon whose shoulders we stand, whether black, white, red, or indifferent.