Artist Statement:

Neo channels energy and movement derived from music as a key ingredient to his process. His works rely heavily on that energy to inform where his hand will go, what tool he will use or how much ink to apply and in which way. It is all a decision made in a moment, which is where Neo spends most of his time. In the moment. In turn, Valerie looks into these abstracts, allowing what she sees to inform her of the drawing that Neo’s work needs. She painstakingly builds depth and context, as she provides a level of detail that we can all connect to. Valerie’s drawings in response to what she sees pave the way to our own stories and personal connections with these places and things. These responses are what compels them to continue collaborative work. Each step of their process is just as important as the previous, and they result in conversations between us as we share our stories we’ve associated with the images Neo and Valerie have created. The conversations pull us back into real life, real conversations and real connections.