I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and lived in England for a number of years. I came to the U.S in the mid 1970's during the period in Northern Ireland known as "the troubles". My work revolves around a number of ideas with regard to personal interpretations of cultural identity, and issues connected with genetic identity. Symbols and references to patterns in nature and gestural marks made by a reaction to a thought or a series of thoughts highlights the surface and textures in my work. I like to include photographic references in my work and I try to make paintings that have a poetic feeling, kind of like a narrative without a story. I really think art should challenge the viewer, and in doing so, art raises more questions than answers. We are like rocks in a virtual flood of information. The overwhelming power of imagery is all around us, we cannot escape our love affair with the visual. I am always thinking about another image, something embeds itself in the psyche and then later rearranges itself in a painting---who knows how? I work in a mixed-media manner freely combining artistic styles and strategies in a contemporary eclectic fashion---some might refer to this tendency as post-modern. My work was recently shown at the Betty Rymer Gallery at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I am currently part of a traveling exhibition called Yougenics. The Yougenics web site is located by searching under Yougenics. I hope you enjoy the work, Best wishes, Alan Montgomery BTW, I will donate 25% of any sale to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.