Art takes a stand, it challenges you, slaps you in the face. Artists assert personal visions, labeling their decisions with their own names. Art is a celebration, not of the individual, but of individual responsibility. Artists affirm the possible, the poetic, and the profound. Imitation sweet talks you, it flatters your taste. Imitation decorates, it is the advocate of the status quo, making attractive what already is. Imitation is comforting, it reassures you by reflecting the world as you know it. Imitation offers no possibilities, there are no implications to its seduction. Its appeal is shallow. Imitation flattens, its positivity is two-dimensional, depthless.
    Art is a corrective for imitation, teaching the eyes to distinguish between the two. Frosted Geometric Abstraction (oil on canvas, 2004) is a small painting conceived as a chromatic and textural simulation of a sugar cookie. This small painting seeks to identify itself in opposition to imitation, particularly to works that masquerade as genuine artistic statements, but are only exercises in the allure of empty calories.