Welcome

I see the painting not as a window looking out, but rather as a container in which I can freely arrange and rearrange things.

In the studio I seek to set up a dialogue between myself and the canvas. As if I’m meeting a new person. Like a conversation of sorts. I start with no preconceived plan. Sometimes this goes well and the exchange is cheerful, often times it goes in unexpected directions and can get quite uncomfortable and even look embarrassing. I think ‘oooh yuck, ok great.’ This gets me excited to try a new tack, usually something risky in order to salvage the painting.

The varied experience of the everyday is the aesthetic filter through which I approach painting. I bring what I have in the moment as I meet the painting; torn magazine shards, photos, song lyrics, doodles, notes and sketches of street life, fragments of other artist’s paintings, Instagram glimpses, drawings and collages. I juxtapose and layer many disparate things much like thoughts, events and memories might be arranged in a dream.

In the safe solitude of the studio I find I can let go of traditional ideas of good painting and be free to explore my idea of visual delight.