The universe inhabited by my paintings is carefully balanced between optim-ism and ruin. All of time collapses, simultaneously combining within them a sense of humanity’s greatest moments of ingenuity with the reminder that we as humans are subject to fate and to a world that returns us to a state of entropy.

In my paintings, I explore the idea of remixed culture by creating “mash-ups” of art-historical references, genres, and techniques that operate as personal and social commentary. The visual combination of elements creates a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. These frenetic works are the chaos that is my life: loose strings of relationships, fragments of ideas, all barely held together by humble materials. The codes and anagrams hidden in my work add layers of inquiry about our beliefs and the fragile systems on which they rest.

In Adipose Industries I have created a multimedia company whose main focus is the theoretical securing and repurposing of fat for home and personal use. I base my science on anecdotal evidence and on my innate inability to understand science or math. Recycling materials from manmade and natural sources, I assemble and manipulate objects that evolve, develop, and grow, often of their own accord. There are no formulas, no recipes, and no directions for rewiring, disassembling, and reconstruction. The only guidance is that there are no instructions for interpretation or use.

I am using the natural force of gravity and fluid dynamics to draw with a liquid-based graphite mixture. My use of graphite speaks to both the arts and the sciences—it simultaneously references the artistic practice of drawing, the carbon base of life forms, and vast geologic processes. The final imagery is not predetermined, but develops within parameters I set in place as I begin painting. Once the graphite mixture dries, I may incise scientifically based but ultimately manufactured diagrams into it, flattening the image into a schematic charting.

I find rich subject matter in banality. In my work, I attach myself to the sweet grime of the everyday. I see and feel the outskirts of things more than the things themselves. What some deem insignificant is what propels my process. I want to collapse into everything, all the strange matter that makes up this world.

In my work I examine the practice of masquerade and its relationship to concepts of identity and power in scenes of figures meticulously depicted in gouache, watercolor, and ink on paper. I select the figures from various sources, societies, and time periods, and compose them to create tableaux influenced by the ideas of James Hillman and Joseph Campbell, and by the notion of myth-making in general. Campbell’s monomyth (or the hero’s journey myth) is found throughout the world and is familiar to all, with slight cultural/regional nuances.

“One is taking the material of the world, imposing a set of forms on it in a very concentrated way, to actually reinvest our existence with meaning.”
—Tony Cragg

I question the emotional and psychological framework our culture works within. In my work I examine the politics of fear and propagated ignorance and, in doing so, I hope to expose our value systems and bring attention to the absurd. My work asks that you press the “think button” and attempts to ratify the reasonable through the more commonly communicated crazy. I want the viewer to investigate truth for themselves, and in sharing my own investigation I hope together we might discover the benefits of truth in a world that overwhelms us with everything but.