Paintings
Painting
Artist's statement:
I’m one of those freaky nerds who literally wept my first time beholding Rothko’s Four Seasons murals at the Tate Modern.
When a childhood knack for art turned into a teenaged serious pursuit, it began with an infatuation with painting. Specifically with the the New York School of Abstract Expressionists. De Kooning and Pollock are teen angst on canvas. They were Punk Rock. Visceral painting is cathartic and loud. It's about the medium as much as the subject (or lack thereof).
Deconstructionism
In a literal play-on-words, I create “autobiographical” painted collages on deconstructed articles of clothing that I’ve outworn. That's it.
Crucifixions
In 1990, Robert Mapplethorpe’s The Perfect Moment exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and all hell broke loose (police raids of a museum & obscenity charges against a curator). The exhibit was hugely impactful to me for a few reasons. It solidified my desire to get the hell outta Dodge and head to NYC, instilled a deep love for photography, and inspired an investigation into a trove of new artists... in this case, Andres Serrano - photographer of Piss Christ.
Having grown up in a household where abuse was masked by Catholicism, my rejection of Christianity and cynicism towards religion in general set in at an early age. Serrano’s message certainly resonated with me. Yet at the same time, I was offended. Not offended by its vulgarity, but its simplicity. A naive and sheltered Midwestern teenager still ignorant to conceptual art, I was provoked by the artist’s “laziness” instead of recognizing his brilliance.
The provocation became an inspiration to create my own study of the crucifixion to counter Serrano’s. My paintings would be as much an attack on “conceptualism” as they are my Christian upbringing. Visceral. Canvases attacked with a crowbar. Painted with my hands. Literally bled into.
When I created this series, I would ha
"Unfinished" Painting
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