origin | My artwork explores two distinct yet visually unrelated directions. The first comes from an interest in minimalism expressed with white space, pencil, ink, and a sparse use of color, if any. This work is often explored in my sketchbooks around my intent for balance and imperfection.
The second theme is landscapes, which rely on a tight color palette, geometric shapes, and a varying approach to applying the paint. They represent my idea of California and my feeling of living here.
The main intersection of these two directions is the desire to create pieces that are intentionally human in their markings and imperfections. If I create a geometric shape, something that could be perceived as ‘perfect,’ I will always make it a bit off. These pieces are handmade.
2006 | 76.2x121.9cm | 30x48in
minimalism | I made this painting in 2006. I was living in a small apartment in Venice, California, and feeling the urge to make anything. I had graduated two years earlier from RISD with a Master's in Industrial Design and taken some space from the art/design world. That summer, it hit me hard to make something again.
I was (am) a real fan of Agnes Martin's and completely taken with her simple (yet not) pencil paintings. I also appreciate her self-imposed constraints. So, I set forth my own constraints. For materials, I'd only use inexpensive materials found at any hardware store: 3/4" plywood, flat white house painting, 2" paint brush, and a classic yellow no. 2 pencil. Conceptually, I wanted to explore a mix of hand-made, randomness, and the intersection of choice. The process was to cut the wood panel and frame it, prime it, then make random brush strokes across the surface, and finally use the pencil to document the brush marks.
I still remember hand-cutting the plywood in my backyard, trying to keep the line straight and priming it outside while keeping the gnats from landing on the wet surface. The random brush strokes took no more than 10 minutes to make, but the pencil lines took me that fall to complete.
Elements of this first white pencil painting are found in my sketchbooks and select paintings. It's an approach that I continue to revisit and develop. In its present iteration, I'm working on the perfection/imperfection of the surface, which in practical terms means 12+ coats of gesso with 150 grit sanding between layers (yes, it's very time-consuming).
2012 | 91.4x152.4cm | 36x60in
landscapes | This painting came together during a time of change. It was 2011, and we had recently moved into a new home in Mar Vista. It just so happened a friend gave me this canvas. We had a spare room, and I went out and bought an inexpensive set of acrylics. When I started the work, I thought we were in California for good, but by the time it was finished in 2012, we were deep into moving plans. It was my first attempt at capturing my idea of California.
My fascination with the state of California first came to me around the age of ten. We were living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the time. It was childhood with drastic changes in the season. On many mosquito-filled summer days, I was inter-tubing in the creek at the bottom of our hill. And I spent many -10 degrees winter days playing pickup hockey at the public park. It was all I knew. And it was terrific.
But one summer in 1982, my world got bigger. The neighbors across the street had their cousins visit for two weeks. Over four summers, they showed up with rollerblades, then skateboards, then BMX bikes, and finally breakdancing. I jumped into each new activity passionately. Yes, I even had cardboard on the front lawn to practice backspins. I thought they were from the future. It turns out it was California. I needed to go.
By 1996, I was living in the state and experiencing it. We were surfing a ton year-round in Ocean Beach, San Francisco. I’ve never been a great surfer, but the whole journey stays with me: the drive out, the first glimpse of the ocean, the padel past the break, the swell building, and sometimes a ride where everything slows down, and you’re totally in the moment taking in the ocean, city, and sky all at once. That’s the feeling that I tried to capture in this first landscape and continue to explore.