Ostinati
Before I was a painter, I was a kid in my mom's fabric store, surrounded by prints and textures. I learned to play rhythm instruments such as the piano, the guitar, and the xylophone. I spent time in my grandparent's basement--a wood-shop, where they repaired and refinished old furniture bought at auctions. This may be why as an adult I have a strong affinity for places like hardware and fabric stores, or why my artwork is more influenced by the music I hear than the visual art I see. I have decided to explore these affinities in my practice.
Foraging for "art media" in fabric, hardware and thrift stores invites discovery at every stage of the art-making process. My palette is inspired by the spectrum of these materials (e.g. wood glues and fillers, industrial fabrics). A dialogue begins between a stretcher frame, substrate, and media. I'm interested in asking questions about material relationships as well as how to be innovative in their applications. A process of material rhyming binds unrelated materials into a harmonious work. I've varied my mark-making applications well beyond brushwork to include pairing, tearing, pushing, sticking and scraping. I'm currently in the process of cataloging this mark-making and material research. I'm also "mark-sourcing" with my camera phone, taking note of interesting lines and shapes found in sidewalk cracks, electrical wires, peeling paint, and other everyday imagery.
Visually these pieces embrace an aesthetic similar to that of minimalist music - layered textures and constantly repeated patterns which are subject to gradual changes. Materially, they explore utilitarian themes steeped in the painter's tradition. Personally, they draw out my innate aesthetics and intertwine them.