Scenes from the Movements:
My work is an exploration of the composition of place and time through the interpretation of cultural phenomenon, the political state, and the physical environment. I am interested in literal and metaphoric signs in the environment and the ways in which they shape perceptions, social interactions, and daily activities. I work as an artist trained as an architect and an urban and regional planner, documenting this “vision”. The work relates to my nomadic experience moving around the United States living on both coasts as well as the mid-west.
One painting explores the cultural signification of place and time by specifically targeting the “postcard ideal”. The painting combines a traditionally rendered hand painted landscape scene in oil with commercial screen prints in enamel. By exploding the “postcard ideal” the work suggests an “alternative” discourse with a new identification of cultural signs and symbols and a new found significance in the built environment. This is one method to understanding the associative manner in which the environment has meaning, through an understanding of the structured use of signs, language, politics, and built form.
The painting “In the panopticon” highlights my interest in the ideas of perception and human behavior (action sequences) as it relates to the environment. Using narratives taken from computer imagery, video games, and movies a different world is constructed. Traditional ways of representing space, through perspective are both emphasized through “construction lines” and de-emphasized through an intentional flattening of the painting surface, much like a Japanese print. The painting surface removes the “painterly brushstroke” through a self-leveling alkyld enamel in successively sanded layers to achieve a smooth, almost plastic quality. The painting medium is further used to depict the digitally created subject matter, a computer generated 3-D model image used in my work as a city planner.
The panopticon is a direct reference to English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham’s philosophical concept. “The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.” The painting directly references the ways in which architecture, city planning, and art represent the environment and play a role in the interactions of this environment, suggesting these generative/destructive forces to be either good, bad, or neutral and gives them shape through iconic “Monsters” forms.
Drawings and prints are based more on loose conceptual ideas relating to personal experiences and perceptions often using ideas and prints from paintings. The drawings and prints convey my interest in life drawing or the illustration of journal writing.
Follow Us!