My work redacts information and human presence to feature absence. I am fascinated with absence, as informed by melancholia and loss. I use this fascination to highlight the space between personal struggle and the world’s reality, between intention and consequence.
The work is grounded in observational drawing. This approach requires meticulous study of a subject and asks that the final product be an accurate representation. This quest for accuracy is contradictory in nature. My interest in observation feeds my fascination with what gets left out. There is electricity in the information left behind by our unavoidable human sensory failings. It is the absent reality that compels me to paint.
Historically, watercolor is directly tied to observational painting, giving artists the ability to quickly process thoughts. Watercolor is my language: it is fluid, beautiful, and opinionated. The dry time is quick and the window to manipulate it is short. Thus, to work in watercolor, one must work with it. Once paint has touched the surface, there is only so much that can be done. Watercolor stains and stays and it is up to painters to plan and offer it a place to go. Within my guidelines watercolor flows, pools, and blooms in unexpected ways.
I attend to the moments, methods, media, and subjects that generally forgo scrutiny. These structures are so ingrained in our lives, they seem to disappear. This is true of my substrates as my chosen surface correlates to my subject. I have painted on cardboard, furniture, plastic, wood, paper, and the wall itself.
Composition and subject selection is at the forefront of my discourse with absence. I often choose subjects close to my body, my personal history, my perception. When composing an image, I tend to simplify and seek out the most salient points of interest. I make priorities. I make decisions on what to leave out. I focus all my attention on what seems to demand the most interest and so my paintings become both a way to dispel noise and distill my focus. My subject becomes a symbol to serve as a forum for the overwhelming anxiety of what it means to hold the weight of living.
