We Keep on Working, We Keep on Searching, We Keep on Living, We Keep on Being.

I find cause for the purpose in the work to be on the path of continuing to grow and learn and create. We have certain phases as artists where it all just elevates in a chemical amoebic shift into that thing that sets the tone for the next phase, and then we continue, we grow and we hunker down into that trench or current where it all builds again. I have learned so much about my own spirit and mind in the last few years, and the questions, some of the isolation of moments, some of the deep sense of connection of moments, a sense of the subtle pause with which I have approached so much of my own personal art making and growth has lent itself to an almost nostalgic, melancholy, sometimes grim palette. I look forward to letting the questions that were unearthed in this process grow brightly again, to getting my hands good and mucked up with materials, to letting realistic drawing meeting guttural abstract painting to meeting strange esoteric drawings become a guide. I am going to curate a selection of images of mine from the last 8 years, for my own purposes to see, nakedly, how they interact with one another. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Strike Down Upon Thee, 3’x4’, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2014

Porch Lights Glow (Visible Time Study) 40”x30”, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2019

Ben Grimm Feels, 22”x15”, Mixed Media on Paper, 2018

Chicken Hawk Dive, 8’x4’, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2013

Grow Baby Grow (Ritual of Ruin), 30”x22”, Mixed Media on Paper, 2015

Today We Rise, Size N/A, Found Wood Installation Piece, 2011

The Story of Life, 26”x28”, Mixed Media on Found Wood, 2016

The Moment Just Before They Go Charging Forward To Affect Their Righteous Force, 4’x5’, Graphite on Found Drywall, 2019

Southern Time, 40”x30”, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2019

The City My Backyard, 5’x5’, Mixed Media on Found Wood Assemblage Panel, 2018

2019 Moving Forward

I have been in the studio when possible, working on a large interior project, planning out future endeavors, and seeking within and in new books and sources of information to continue to learn and grow The new year has arrived, a continuing moment in the narrative of every breath. I am stoked to have a few studio shots and share some more travel images with you. I have been discovering more about myself and my painting and am looking forward to embarking on some new drawings soon as well. Things are shifting, changing, and directions forming and beckoning. Pretty happy to have closed the door on a successful 2018 and be able to look back at one of the best years of my life.

That Old New Shit.

I am working on my site a bit currently. I have been digging through some old images from my portfolio archives in search for a series of shots from a show I did in 2014 titled Pilgrimage.  I have really also needed them to set up a series for some applications for residencies and funding I am in the process of working to attain good favor into. Along my quest for this powerful goal, I ran into some high res images of some work that I thought I had unfortunately lost all of in a drive crash ages ago. Much to my happiness and surprise, after trying to reformat some god awful images that were extremely low res (from before websites like Squarespace resized your images in the programming and you had to save depending on screen size and at a viewable 72 dpi), I stumbled upon two images I had long forgotten that I myself had shot (not thinking I was a good enough shot at the time) and was able to color correct them and relive some of the energy and power that came with that time in my life. 

They are both from the Findings series from 2014. Relics of the World of Unstoppable Tomorrow, from that distant future past where the humans reconcile their survival after the reset of civilization due to our inability to control creations of war that we ourselves created under the guise of control. Classic storyline, but pertinent in my mind to my personal view of how our obsession as a race with speeding up our technological advances without thinking of the outcomes, or realizing we repeat the same mistakes of control over and over. Needless to say, these pieces are some of my favorites. One of them was shown at Fecal Face Dot Gallery for a show that Rachel Ralph curated right before an epic road trip I went on as part of my Superchief Gallery NYC solo show "The Scourge". Good times. 

As I write this we are hurtling faster and faster to the brink of nuclear war and I feel that this work, no coincidence, is more pertinent than ever in my life. Even more relevant that in the 1980s when I though Regan and Bush were going to take us to the Promise Land Eating Cheeseburgers and Dying As Our Skin Melted Off. Uplifting times. Here is to the New Year... My Big New Years Update is coming soon. Hold onto your hats already!

These works are both from the Findings series... Both around 26"x28 or 30". I love the cuts and shaping. They are Acrylic Lacquer, Spray Paint, and Graphite on Found Wood Assemblage Panels, 2014. Both sold immediately upon their releases. 

Findings-Jungle Sky, 2014

Findings- All In Together Now, 2014

Finding- The Harbinger, 2014