Dimensional Paintings:
I make dimensional oil paintings that render warped photograph fragments as curvilinear forms. The surfaces in my painting recall the appearance of the ocean: the viewer is placed above or among images that conform to swells and troughs. A desire to resist storytelling underlies my urge to imagine a churning, interlocking volume of activity. This year I am excited about the areas where I have removed paint with a palette knife: I am working back into these wet colors to suggest an undulating, multi-colored veneer, where recognizable image fragments seem continuous with or sunk into drapery-like folds. This technique helps me visualize my source images as layers in flux. My long-term practice of manipulating photo fragments, and of elevating paint handling procedures above narrative, is rejuvenated by making oil paint look ragged, diffuse, and borderless.
Anti-Story Paintings:
These oil paintings join unrelated subjects in a groundless, airy, imaginary environment. I call this work "anti-story" because it thwarts the urge to make sense of the world through storytelling. I depict parts of photographs as if they occupy space, and distort or wrap images on planes like wallpaper, using digital manipulation as a tool and hand-built paper models. Fragmenting and mixing images separates them temporarily from meaning, diminishing but not erasing its power. I enjoy looking at combinations of images that have no obvious reason for appearing together, those with few preexisting, well-worn associations, and feeling their lack of purpose. Working in a dream-like space challenges the idea of causality and encourages viewers to devise their own stories.