statement

My current work explores the subject of still life painting as a convergence of memory, imagination, and perception. I paint toys and common household items that together evoke the domesticity of childhood. The objects are painted both from observation and memory. The spaces they inhabit are wholly invented and change continually as I work, allowing the image to slowly move towards increasing clarity. The painting retains evidence of this fluid process, evoking the transience and intangibility of passing time.

As objects accumulate, the image results in an anxious clutter of discarded items and half-formed shapes that seem to exist in the aftermath of a tragedy. The space is dreamlike and suffused with an ethereal light that lends the objects a poetic weight. I want the paintings to unfold before the viewer, to grow more complex as one looks. The fluid, even joyful, use of paint allows forms that at first read as only smudges or abstract shapes to come into focus as objects. As the viewer explores the space, the act of looking becomes one of discovery and delight. Childhood anxieties and the tragedy of loss are interwoven with a renewed joy and liveliness. The objects, suspended between these contrasting experiences, become players in a drama that speaks to the mystery and complexity of living.

bio

born: 1981, Centralia, Illinois

education

Indiana University, MFA, 2009
Memphis College of Art, BFA, 2003

selected awards/honors

Merit Award, University of Indianapolis Painting Biannual, 2011
Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship, Indiana University, 2009

selected publications

Fresh Paint Magazine, Issue 4: p. 12-13, 2014

selected group shows

Invented Worlds, Flow Art Space, St Paul, Minnesota, 2014
Luminous Language, The Foundry Art Centre, St Charles, Missouri, 2013
Childhood Memories, Mills Pond House Gallery, St James, New York, 2013