My recent paintings explore the nature of impermanence, imperfection and transformation. Observing the intertwined and evolving worlds of the urban and natural environments that surround me – I’m attracted to what is transient and the visual intrigue of happenstance.
Wandering the streets, parks and riverbanks of Washington, DC I find inspiration in construction sites, abandoned buildings, remnants of demolished walls and ghost marks left by objects long gone. I encounter fragments of signage, graffiti painted over and reappearing, streets repeatedly cut and patched. I see unintentional compositions in sidewalk squares – patches of sunlight, the haphazard arrangement of wind blown leaves, flowers and twigs left by a thunderstorm. In the woods I watch as the seasons slowly erase and redraw the same scenes. Day after day I see the river assembling sculptures of fallen trees and flood borne debris, soon to be washed away by the next storm. These spaces reflect cycles of creation, erasure and persistence, where man-made structures and natural forces intersect and the residues of time accumulate in ways both accidental and inevitable. As these places continually transform and evolve, I am intrigued by what we remember and what is forgotten with the passage of time.
Wandering the streets, parks and riverbanks of Washington, DC I find inspiration in construction sites, abandoned buildings, remnants of demolished walls and ghost marks left by objects long gone. I encounter fragments of signage, graffiti painted over and reappearing, streets repeatedly cut and patched. I see unintentional compositions in sidewalk squares – wind blown leaves, flowers and twigs left by a thunderstorm. In the woods I watch as the seasons slowly erase and redraw the same scenes. I follow the river’s progress as it assembles sculptures of flood borne debris, soon to be swept away with the next storm. These spaces reflect cycles of creation, erasure and persistence, where man-made structures and natural forces intersect and the residues of time accumulate in ways both accidental and inevitable. As these places continually transform and evolve, I am intrigued by what we remember and what is forgotten with the passage of time.
I incorporate these concepts and visual experiences in my paintings. The resulting images are often a series of trial and error, layered one atop the other – a combination of attempts, mistakes, corrections and do overs. I begin by creating an impression of structure using lines, grids, angles or letters and measured forms – then disrupt this order by applying layers of painted shapes and overlapping marks, which I partially erase, remove with solvents or otherwise obscure, reapply and erase again. I’m searching for unintended consequences – to find new forms emerging, unexpectedly, from an interrupted foundation of structure. Applying overlapping colors and marks, accepting new, emerging shapes, I allow the image to transform until a result, not fully anticipated but often more compelling appears. The work explores the impermanent nature of things and what remains after change – partial memories, visual fragments, and the tension between what is intended and what is unpredictable.
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