Work available at:
Thinkspace Gallery, CA
Parlor Gallery, NJ
RawSalt Gallery, CA
About the work:
Growing up in a rural farm community created an instinctive bond with outdoor life. Now, after years living in a major city, encounters with nature feel uneasy and foreign. This ongoing series of oil paintings depicts the difficult relationship with nature as seen from an urban perspective. This feeling is conceptualized in three sub-series; a concurrent trilogy of sorts. The first is what could be described as The Pursuit. These scenes are set in the outdoors, but the remembrance of city life still weighs heavily on the mind, pulling at the subject like some unseen anchor. The environment distorts into strange new forms reminiscent of the graffiti covered city walls. The next group of paintings demonstrates The Hope. It is the desire to form a harmonious relationship with nature. Figures are seen morphing with organic forms. Nature and person begin to coalesce into a singular structure. The final collection in this ‘trilogy’ might be defined as The Anxiety. The subjects are found in manufactured spaces and artificial representations of nature. It’s like being on a stage with a fabricated backdrop; the person recognizes the familiarity of the natural elements depicted in the space, but, despite their efforts, they are unable to interact with it or develop a viable form of communication.
Select Bibliography:
- Artist Feature, Hi-Fructose, web article, October 28, 2016
- Artist Preview, Hi-Fructose, web article, September 11, 2014
- Featured Artist, Descant, issue 157 (Vol.43, No.2, Summer 2012)
- Grieve, H. 2008. Art in the City. Argyle. VI:II: February – April
- Lecker, Robert, ed. Open Country, Canadian Literature in English, Nelson, book cover, 2007
- Painting for music video, “Inspiration Lady”, Gordon Lightfoot, 2004