“ There are all these strata and stories, frictions and unsolved problems – it is just like that; in a sense, they cannot be solved at all – and that is exactly what constitutes a picture.”
-Per Kirkeby, 1997
Sublimation is a defense mechanism used in order to channel our pure, instinctual desires and fears into something useful. Possibly art. Constantly reminded of how our world is coming apart at the seams I am always asking myself, “how do I respond to this as an artist?” When my work begins, I choose materials that lend themselves to a kind of alchemy. I find my material at hardware stores, construction sites, in dumpsters behind studios or the banks of rivers. The form and content of the materials dictate the process and what precipitates is a conversation about the contemporary landscape as a dynamic system, not just something to frame or behold. I use elements that merge and collide unpredictably, akin to the original claims of alchemy: the promise of transmuting ordinary materials into gold and the pursuit of transcendence.
Employing reconfigured and disparate materials, my intent is to create an indelible expression of a compromised and fleeting landscape. Using resin, paint, steel and wood, the process produces allusions to my native California; the custom car and surf culture, the ultra-saturated quality of light and the prevalence of agriculture. My current work is a pursuit of something with it’s own self-contained space and it is important to me that my work, although abstract, is accessible to viewers allowing for contemplation about their own languages and histories.