Solo Show @ Mission Workshop

Artist Statement:

My most recent body of work consists of multiple series, both figurative and abstract, united by a limited use of color as a means to investigate certain metaphysical properties inherent, to my mind, to the process of creating artwork.

The paintings in the recent “Stop/Motion” series are the result of an intensive time-based studio project in which I prepared eight identical 30” x 30” panels and executed them in sequence with charcoal, graphite and gesso, giving each two intensive two-hour sessions documented by stop-motion photography. Seeking to involve the recent “live painting” phenomenon into my process, I approached each piece as a meditation exercise, in which I was “seeking the center.” I think of them in a sense as mandalas: collections of movements and patterns that move in orbit around their center. The use of a limited, or binary, palette serves my intention to metaphorically synthesize Eastern traditions, primarily Zen Buddhism, with the Western tradition’s dialectical philosophic approach to metaphysical investigation.

The figurative series in this show also employ a limited palette and, while distinguished by representational elements, they express the same sense of a dialectical process occurring. Exploring the passage between feeling and reason, subjective and objective spaces, memory and forgetting, their process deals primarily with the translation of images from photograph to painting. The “Muse” series is based on photographs I took of a friend, while the “Electric Muses” series is based on photographs culled from internet porn sites. The former focuses on dialogue, abstraction, and memory, while the latter explores the tension between aesthetic stylization and the agency of their subjects.

I make artwork with the intention of finding moments of personal truth and thus creating beautiful image/objects. For me, the process is paramount and time dedicated in the studio becomes a sort of sacrificial rite whereby the whorl and flux and chaos of life can be distilled, purified and transformed into utterances that may, hopefully, shed light into the world. That’s not to say that all my work is serene and contemplative – passion and energy often overpower – but always there is a searching for the mean, the middle path, balance, and harmony. Often, failing is a sort of truth. These are the husks, the traces of a flame, only. But, there they are.