Update October ’25
I have always been drawn to abstraction for its singular ability to inhabit a space that foregrounds the necessity of contemplation, which, as an approach to life, is of immense value.
I am also interested in contradiction- a proposition, statement, or phrase that asserts or implies both the truth and falsity of something. More specifically, I believe the article “and” required to identify or highlight a contradiction is an empowering word, especially as an alternative to the article “but.” Socio-cultural applications of this thinking include considering the difference between the phrases “I love you and you have hurt me” and “I love you but you have hurt me.”
I use the material qualities of acrylic paint to render visual effects that create contradictions through juxtaposition of contrast, e.g. the fact that paint is both opaque and transparent, or dead flat and highly glossy. I intend to point to a state in which both qualities are simultaneously true. The paintings also intentionally incorporate a three-dimensional format- layers of paint on layers of glass- to create the two-dimensional construct of squares within squares. The contradiction in this case is that the compositions are both image and object, simultaneously.
The support materials- glass and wood- are scavenged construction waste which is diverted from landfills. Organic material (such as wood waste) in landfills creates the greenhouse Methane, so the work has a symbolic if small impact on such emissions.
As stated, the work requires viewers to look through layers of translucent paint and glass. The word “through” has many different meanings for Westerners, including “moving from one side to another,” as is the case for viewers looking through the layers. The definition of “through” that is most relevant to my intent is a state of passing “through” (this time in history) and “continuing in time toward completion of a process or period.”
The work also knowingly references the strategies used by many Modernists, unironically. Artists we categorize as Modernists, while not monolithic, generally shared a belief in the possibility and the importance of progress as a goal, which may seem naive today and can also be seen as aspirational. Many espoused “universal” principles- a belief in the value of all life (even as in practice they often fell short of their own ideals)- and believed science should and could be used to understand human reality. Modernism was also an ethos that, historians would say, we have moved through. And, many of the crises which were its impetus (rapid social and technological change) are approaching an intensity today that has not been seen since that era, one that I hold out hope we can move through, with more favorable results given our opportunity to rise to our time. It is in that spirit that I chose work that can be seen through, and hope viewers contemplate passing “through” (this time of climate crisis), and continuing towards, if not necessarily arriving at, completion.
Painting After Art is Dead 