Statement:
I combine and layer images culled from a variety of sources and work
in modes ranging from an indirect realist approach to aggressive
expressionism. The references I employ include cartoons, comic books,
printed ephemera, found photographs, doodles, and reproductions of art
historical paradigms. I often use a number of materials within a painting,
ranging from oil and acrylic paint, spray enamel and ink, to traditional
drawing materials and collage.
For me the process of archiving images is both thoughtful and intuitive,
and is akin to drawing as a means to organize information and visualize
ideas. Pastiche and the act of appropriation serve to dismantle hierarchies
and create a connection between seemingly dissimilar modes of
representation. My interest ultimately lies in how these various techniques
and sources coalesce and create meaning within the confines of a single
piece.
Each painting is begun with little in mind of its formal outcome. I work
in a responsive manner, layering, obscuring, erasing, and adding elements
until a certain visual density is achieved. Once a decisive end becomes
clear, intention takes over and each piece is pushed toward completion.
In spite of an open ended and spontaneous working method, I find I’m
consistently returning to specific concerns. Most prevalent among these is
an investigation of a distant and idealized past, one where
wholesomeness, innocence, and homogeny are perpetuated by superficial
and stereotypical representations of suburban, middle class, American life.
I hope to reveal the melodramatic and reductive nature of these images,
and question our collective inheritance of the lifestyle that they propagate.
I combine and layer images culled from a variety of sources and work
in modes ranging from an indirect realist approach to aggressive
expressionism. The references I employ include cartoons, comic books,
printed ephemera, found photographs, doodles, and reproductions of art
historical paradigms. I often use a number of materials within a painting,
ranging from oil and acrylic paint, spray enamel and ink, to traditional
drawing materials and collage.
For me the process of archiving images is both thoughtful and intuitive,
and is akin to drawing as a means to organize information and visualize
ideas. Pastiche and the act of appropriation serve to dismantle hierarchies
and create a connection between seemingly dissimilar modes of
representation. My interest ultimately lies in how these various techniques
and sources coalesce and create meaning within the confines of a single
piece.
Each painting is begun with little in mind of its formal outcome. I work
in a responsive manner, layering, obscuring, erasing, and adding elements
until a certain visual density is achieved. Once a decisive end becomes
clear, intention takes over and each piece is pushed toward completion.
In spite of an open ended and spontaneous working method, I find I’m
consistently returning to specific concerns. Most prevalent among these is
an investigation of a distant and idealized past, one where
wholesomeness, innocence, and homogeny are perpetuated by superficial
and stereotypical representations of suburban, middle class, American life.
I hope to reveal the melodramatic and reductive nature of these images,
and question our collective inheritance of the lifestyle that they propagate.
