STATEMENT:

Statement: 2007

My artwork explores the expanse of “gray area” in between what we can visually recognize and what we deem unrecognizable. This spectrum is often determined by our knowledge of language and our ability to place labels on things we recognize. Networks of exploding, intertwining forms are created by tangled swarms of lines of varying thickness and tone in the midst of raw canvas or semi-opaque layers of paint. Curvilinear and angular shapes are woven together to create vague representations of figures, foliage, sinewy muscle tissue, the human brain, fire, smoke, guns, tanks, or machinery. These elements are often differentiated by many topographic layers of acrylic paint.

Fully recognizable figures and objects are included within these matrices of line and color. Most of these are rendered in oil on the most superficial layer of the painting. Subsequently, some are only revealed to the viewer after an extended period of time spent scanning the various areas and layers of the piece created by a technique of stretching a new piece of linen or cotton fabric over the original, underlying, canvas. Glossy and matte acrylic medium are also added, creating additional clear, surface layers.

Instead of politicians, “leaders”, philanthropists, writers, priests, or even revolutionaries, most of my role models can be classified as entertainers. It is these entertainers who have seemed to repeatedly appeal to me on both conscious and subconscious levels. I often call upon these artists, actors, musicians, combatants, athletes, or comedians to distract me from stress or responsibility. In a fear driven mass-media culture that somehow recycles machines of war into consumer products, these performers can offer a true sense of sanctuary and hope. Despite this they often seem so shallow and superficial. In my art I intend to explore, and provide a new context for, the labels and categories I associate with these figures for whom I have so much respect, fear and curiosity.

I am interested in people who hide their skin and recognizable traits with excessive patterns and colors meant to grab the viewer’s full attention. The costumes they wear allow them to perform like actors, while also serving as a marker of difference. When we wear this type of uniform, we are able to erase our personal identities, our bodies, and take on more universal identities laden with enormous amounts of historical baggage. The clown or fool, for example, is found in every society in some form. As a child I was very intimidated by these masked jokers, yet now I find them inspiring. I like to draw attention to the idea of using humor as a guise for progressive ideas and truths. Throughout history, the clown, or comedian, is often called upon by the monarch or leader to lift them out of a bad mood. This provides an intimate platform for a common person, wearing the jester’s mask, to communicate directly with a person of immense political power.