current statement to be updated soon
Older statement(s)
My paintings are a navigation through a mostly confused existence. They are the timeline of my thought processes and investigations based in the means in which I see my, and our, place within this temporal juncture. To speak through my paintings, I employ layers of art historical references, connotations pertaining to cultural problems and ambiguities, perceptions and misconceptions of an object based/driven society. I utilize the vernacular of my predecessors in order to communicate more readily with a viewer’s assumedly possessed knowledge in linking ideas and theories of the times in reference.
Secondarily, my work speaks through the lenses of mechanical reproduction and terms of simulacrum and artificiality. To obtain a means of representation I utilize simplified, yet recognizable, imagery to allow for an easier entrance point for the viewer to relate to and begin decoding my work.
My goal is to point toward perceptual and spatial relationships that may lead to misconceptions of necessity or liberation from the virtual ideal. Through dry humor, I am speaking to the terms of a disillusioned reality and using metonymical structures to break into as many vaults of historical tradition leading to contemporary practices that define our conception of existence.
&
I am concerned with existence and the creation of pertinent and non-extraneous, meaningful information. Information does not necessitate meaning and meaning is in short supply. We live in a world that is constantly producing information but we cannot necessarily rely on every piece of data as truly important.
Light is nothingness
Importance is man-made
Nothing, everything
This meaning, however, has allowed for a gap to be constructed. It is not an interstice that is apparent without open eyes. The information that constitutes meaning does not necessarily import the importance of meaning itself. “We think that information produces meaning, the opposite occurs. Information devours its own content. It devours communication and the social.”[i] When we place too much information ahead of the content it purports to stand for, we lose any meaning that would make for a viable social utility. In that, quantity does not precede necessity or importance, nor does it assist in the continuation of importance that was already set from the past, it becomes degraded and ravished in nature.
We operate as a group that attempts to diverge from its historical predecessors, however, not always with the gift of understanding where or why it does so. I feel that it is our duty to combat this disillusion and regain a search for some semblance of importance in this unimportant existence. If we don't find something to ascribe ourselves to, what are we beyond naturalistic desire and instinct? It is my intention to call attention and question the placidity and apathy that is predominating the commonplace contemporary culture we find ourselves in today.
[i] Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, pg. 80
_________
Past Statements
My paintings thrive off of stimulation and the power of attraction under the precept that if one employs more visual stimuli, the better its reception will be. I don’t, however, aim to leave my work at a purely aesthetic experience but leave the underlying content up to the viewer. To speak through my paintings, I employ layers of art historical references, connotations pertaining to cultural problems and ambiguities, perceptions and misconceptions of an object based/driven society. Just as the Bauhaus aimed for a utopian structure of societal rationalism in the creation of a uniform, rational aesthetic with their products feeling like they have been made in a factory but were individually hand-built with integrity, I have made it a point to retain the laborious but necessary means of process. This is most heavily shown through the patterning created by individual stencils, which spans the larger portion of my paintings and the individuality that comes out of the hand, even though directly molded to maintain a level of uniformity throughout.
Secondarily, my work speaks through the lenses of mechanical reproduction and Baudrillardian terms of simulacrum and artificiality. To obtain a means of representation I utilize simplified, yet recognizable, imagery to allow for an easier entrance point for the viewer to relate to and begin decoding my work. My goal is not particularly that of subversion but to point towards perceptual and spatial relationship that may lead to misconceptions of necessity or liberation from the virtual ideal. Through dry humor, I am speaking to the terms of a disillusioned reality and using metonymical structures to break into as many vaults of historical tradition leading to contemporary practices that define our conception of existence.
_____
My work speaks to contemporary cultural issues of; overstimulation expressed through the use of patterning, perceptions on reality shown through perspectival activation of flatness and color of and from the viewer, myself, and references to art historical context, and contemplation of potentially problematic, visually or audibly communicable, language which construct our society all as tools to create my paintings. I feel that it is integral to open my research to multiple topics at once to make sense of the pluralistic culture we inhabit.
In considering my position in the art world and as a painter, I am conscious of normative contemporary societal values, which heavily influences my work. The base structures of my considerations stem from the study within semiotics, theology, and sociology. The study of these categorical systems, assist in articulating and analyzing the way I experience human interaction (viewed and experienced), spatial interaction (within an environment), and technological application in society. Through my work, I am able to further contemplate on the imposed frustrations, experiences, and perceptions within the present day. The means in which I portray my subject matter directly relates to intention and application. In this relationship, form presupposes an understanding of subjectivity in consideration of color, composition, and symbolism. Flesh is not naturalistically depicted; yet, a believably three-dimensional form is constructed from a two-dimensional surface. Spatial illusion and composition are mostly flat but constructed in such a manner to draw attention to the focal points and create a subtly unsettling image. In addition, my process directly influences the scale of my work. I consider myself most comfortable with an approximate life-size scale due to the mark a particular brush size makes and the room it allows for blending the paint, typically working from the primed surface as ground for an illuminating effect.
Also, I will look to see whom, if not known already, had created the object, the title.
_______
My work is both an examination and reflection on how society’s values and active norms influence ideas about truth. By truth, I mean to encompass questions such as: what is moral, what is perceivable, what is reality. Through my work I examine society and the individual human, which makes up the whole. I also search to unearth the degree society influences the construction of my identity. The examination and questioning of societal and individual subjective values are integral in the search for an objective truth. I must break through both ideological and subjective thought in order to obtain objective truth, which I realize is possibly unobtainable.In my investigation I must look first into my perception of the world around me, my humor, thought processes and my ideas about life and death. Since my concerns deal with life and its surroundings, it is logical for me to be interested in portraying naturalism. However, I am not always interested in forming an entirely naturalistic composition or figure.. This is my mode of commenting on perception’s intangible qualities...
Older statement(s)
My paintings are a navigation through a mostly confused existence. They are the timeline of my thought processes and investigations based in the means in which I see my, and our, place within this temporal juncture. To speak through my paintings, I employ layers of art historical references, connotations pertaining to cultural problems and ambiguities, perceptions and misconceptions of an object based/driven society. I utilize the vernacular of my predecessors in order to communicate more readily with a viewer’s assumedly possessed knowledge in linking ideas and theories of the times in reference.
Secondarily, my work speaks through the lenses of mechanical reproduction and terms of simulacrum and artificiality. To obtain a means of representation I utilize simplified, yet recognizable, imagery to allow for an easier entrance point for the viewer to relate to and begin decoding my work.
My goal is to point toward perceptual and spatial relationships that may lead to misconceptions of necessity or liberation from the virtual ideal. Through dry humor, I am speaking to the terms of a disillusioned reality and using metonymical structures to break into as many vaults of historical tradition leading to contemporary practices that define our conception of existence.
&
I am concerned with existence and the creation of pertinent and non-extraneous, meaningful information. Information does not necessitate meaning and meaning is in short supply. We live in a world that is constantly producing information but we cannot necessarily rely on every piece of data as truly important.
Light is nothingness
Importance is man-made
Nothing, everything
This meaning, however, has allowed for a gap to be constructed. It is not an interstice that is apparent without open eyes. The information that constitutes meaning does not necessarily import the importance of meaning itself. “We think that information produces meaning, the opposite occurs. Information devours its own content. It devours communication and the social.”[i] When we place too much information ahead of the content it purports to stand for, we lose any meaning that would make for a viable social utility. In that, quantity does not precede necessity or importance, nor does it assist in the continuation of importance that was already set from the past, it becomes degraded and ravished in nature.
We operate as a group that attempts to diverge from its historical predecessors, however, not always with the gift of understanding where or why it does so. I feel that it is our duty to combat this disillusion and regain a search for some semblance of importance in this unimportant existence. If we don't find something to ascribe ourselves to, what are we beyond naturalistic desire and instinct? It is my intention to call attention and question the placidity and apathy that is predominating the commonplace contemporary culture we find ourselves in today.
[i] Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, pg. 80
_________
Past Statements
My paintings thrive off of stimulation and the power of attraction under the precept that if one employs more visual stimuli, the better its reception will be. I don’t, however, aim to leave my work at a purely aesthetic experience but leave the underlying content up to the viewer. To speak through my paintings, I employ layers of art historical references, connotations pertaining to cultural problems and ambiguities, perceptions and misconceptions of an object based/driven society. Just as the Bauhaus aimed for a utopian structure of societal rationalism in the creation of a uniform, rational aesthetic with their products feeling like they have been made in a factory but were individually hand-built with integrity, I have made it a point to retain the laborious but necessary means of process. This is most heavily shown through the patterning created by individual stencils, which spans the larger portion of my paintings and the individuality that comes out of the hand, even though directly molded to maintain a level of uniformity throughout.
Secondarily, my work speaks through the lenses of mechanical reproduction and Baudrillardian terms of simulacrum and artificiality. To obtain a means of representation I utilize simplified, yet recognizable, imagery to allow for an easier entrance point for the viewer to relate to and begin decoding my work. My goal is not particularly that of subversion but to point towards perceptual and spatial relationship that may lead to misconceptions of necessity or liberation from the virtual ideal. Through dry humor, I am speaking to the terms of a disillusioned reality and using metonymical structures to break into as many vaults of historical tradition leading to contemporary practices that define our conception of existence.
_____
My work speaks to contemporary cultural issues of; overstimulation expressed through the use of patterning, perceptions on reality shown through perspectival activation of flatness and color of and from the viewer, myself, and references to art historical context, and contemplation of potentially problematic, visually or audibly communicable, language which construct our society all as tools to create my paintings. I feel that it is integral to open my research to multiple topics at once to make sense of the pluralistic culture we inhabit.
In considering my position in the art world and as a painter, I am conscious of normative contemporary societal values, which heavily influences my work. The base structures of my considerations stem from the study within semiotics, theology, and sociology. The study of these categorical systems, assist in articulating and analyzing the way I experience human interaction (viewed and experienced), spatial interaction (within an environment), and technological application in society. Through my work, I am able to further contemplate on the imposed frustrations, experiences, and perceptions within the present day. The means in which I portray my subject matter directly relates to intention and application. In this relationship, form presupposes an understanding of subjectivity in consideration of color, composition, and symbolism. Flesh is not naturalistically depicted; yet, a believably three-dimensional form is constructed from a two-dimensional surface. Spatial illusion and composition are mostly flat but constructed in such a manner to draw attention to the focal points and create a subtly unsettling image. In addition, my process directly influences the scale of my work. I consider myself most comfortable with an approximate life-size scale due to the mark a particular brush size makes and the room it allows for blending the paint, typically working from the primed surface as ground for an illuminating effect.
Also, I will look to see whom, if not known already, had created the object, the title.
_______
My work is both an examination and reflection on how society’s values and active norms influence ideas about truth. By truth, I mean to encompass questions such as: what is moral, what is perceivable, what is reality. Through my work I examine society and the individual human, which makes up the whole. I also search to unearth the degree society influences the construction of my identity. The examination and questioning of societal and individual subjective values are integral in the search for an objective truth. I must break through both ideological and subjective thought in order to obtain objective truth, which I realize is possibly unobtainable.In my investigation I must look first into my perception of the world around me, my humor, thought processes and my ideas about life and death. Since my concerns deal with life and its surroundings, it is logical for me to be interested in portraying naturalism. However, I am not always interested in forming an entirely naturalistic composition or figure.. This is my mode of commenting on perception’s intangible qualities...
