2D Studio Art - Painting and Drawing
I wonder if the terms “gut feeling”, “sixth sense” or “a hunch” have become muddied by the collective desire to be intelligent, or free from error. I think the truth might be that these phrases seek to define a process that is far removed from what we “think” or “feel.” Maybe, intuition exists beyond conscious reasoning, in a place where thoughts don’t have the power to dictate up from down, correct from incorrect, or normal from abnormal. Many consider the act of sleeping to be what it physically is: habitually closing your eyes until one day turns into the next. I think that instead, sleeping allows me to experience things that are intrinsically my own. The moment I fall asleep, my conscious mind becomes unaware. Free from regulation, atypical objects, concepts, and relationships get a chance to exist without hindrance.
Categorization has always been present in my work, yet for most of my practice I didn’t understand that. I had always felt that my work was haphazard; I lacked a singular ‘style’ in the mechanics of my practice, and if I ever settled into one way of working, I felt that I was betraying my own authenticity. When I began to better understand synesthesia* and my inclinations towards it, I realized that my modes of sensation and perception are uniquely intertwined. Simple categories like days of the week, letters, or numbers, in my mind, are not so straightforward. Thursday, the letter ‘C’, and the color dark green, to me, are explicitly related in gender, age, and emotion. When I approach my work with the same relationship of association, my ‘style’ becomes more clearly represented than ever before.
I’ve been embracing the idea that one's practice is not always linear, and organization for some can look like a complete disaster to others. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I believe that the concept of likeness is in the hands of the creator. Each element of my paintings is a time stamp of what is circulating in my soul. Although visual aspects of my paintings are inspired by imagery from books, prints, articles, advertisements, street art, graffiti, and the world around me, I feel that they somewhat possess the rawest form of my identity. What might look random to the viewer, is to me, a strategic categorization of my intentions and aspirations at the time they are written. This process of collection and organization reminds me of the way that dreams may only make spatial, emotional, or chronological sense while one is asleep.
What I aspire to produce in my work is a keyhole into the unlikely relationships of what may or may not be related. The contrast between what “belongs” and what isn’t supposed to, or what is “real” and what is imagined. This body of large, multimedia paintings is a reference to the objects, concepts, and relationships that live outside the boundaries of an “awake” mind. Each painting is a by-product of the pursuit to develop a more careful understanding of the moments that live in-between.
"While We Sleep", mixed media paintings on canvas, 2021
"Floor Is Lava", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, and paper on canvas. 82 x 38 inches. Floor Is Lava, 2021, acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, and paper on canvas. 82 x 38 inches.
"Floor Is Lava", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, and paper on canvas. 82 x 38 inches. Floor Is Lava, 2021, acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, and paper on canvas. 82 x 38 inches.
"Tricks Are for Kids", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, oil pastel on canvas. 48 x 48 inches. 2021.
"Tricks Are for Kids", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, oil pastel on canvas. 48 x 48 inches. 2021.
"What Could Go Right", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, oil pastel, paper and gold leaf on canvas. 48 x 48 inches. 2021.
"What Could Go Right", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, oil pastel, paper and gold leaf on canvas. 48 x 48 inches. 2021.
"This Morning’s Breakfast", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, paper, graphite and oil pastel on canvas. 30 x 30 inches. 2021.
"This Morning’s Breakfast", acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, paper, graphite and oil pastel on canvas. 30 x 30 inches. 2021.
