PAINTINGS
Queens 2018-2019
Femme queens, butch queens and non-binary public figures have all inspired these portraits, a collection which reflects an ongoing battle between the masculine and feminine. Alongside this struggle there is also an intention to find a balance. Ancient traditions have honored and respected the practice of creating union between these two sacred forces for as long as we have had written records. In comparison to artistic commissions and religious documentation of the divine or attributes of these energies – we are now faced with this essential conversation reflected back at us in our mainstream media and online content. Through the use of varying mediums including liquid acrylic, gouache, paint marker, spray paint and oil sticks an effort is made to capture the aura of our heroes of the movement while focusing on the current internal conversation between gender identities. It is important we look at these themes less as a Man/Woman scenario and more as the feminine and masculine frequencies that are within each of us.
Florals 2014-2019
In earlier eras of human history, people lived in harmony with Mother Nature. Early humans believed that plants were sentient and lauded their healing powers. It is unsurprising then that shamanism, specifically plant spirit shamanism, was our species' first foray into spirituality. If you trace the history of this spiritual practice you will discover that communication with a plant requires more than just preparation and consumption. Shamanic principles from many traditions teach us that plants can speak to us if we listen. It is said that the mind is programmed to recognize other minds – and by observing one that calls to us in shape, sound or intuition we learn to have a reverence for our response in its presence. These works are the documentation of a journey spanning an entire career of painting practice while concurrently walking a path of discovering healing and alchemy. When painting or drawing flora, first they are objectified as a still life and later while sitting with the plant meditatively for some time an effort is made to transmit the message and aura visually. It is important while holding space with a flora to treat the other as having intelligence, a consciousness of its own, helping to create a dialogue. In one sense, this activates the resonant energy within and in another, bridges the gap between communication as we know it. This type of work allows us to open up to the larger consciousness that permeates all things on this planet.
Lady Liberty 2018
These pieces are a depiction of the goddess that inspired an era of human history motivated by common law and democracy. They are the artist’s emotional response to an administration in the United States government that has awoken the masses to the underlying injustice and hypocrisy that has existed since its inception. Sitting behind a computer screen of privilege has proved an ineffective practice. It is said: "Delacroix watched the rebellion of the French Revolution from his window, and though he didn't take up arms he wanted to show his political views through painting." This collection of paintings and drawings include various versions of Libertas to be sold as prints supporting Ro Fino’s “Not My President: A Monthly Show of Resistance.”
Depictions of Liberty herself have changed throughout history before immigrating to her haven in the New York harbor. Upon further study, we note that the modern depiction of Lady Liberty has a jawline more masculine and shoulders broad. The French sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi used his brother as a model for this iconic interpretation. As she stands with torch in hand, we ultimately discover that Lady Liberty is representing both the masculine and the feminine, non-gendered. We see clearly that our Statue of Liberty is a Drag Queen.
Mixed Media 2008-2015
A series of paintings done in a Queens, NY studio over the span of 7 years (2008-2015). The technique was developed by using a variety of mixed media including gouache, paint markers, spray paint, oil sticks, paper clippings, and found objects. Each image was developed by using multiple layers of translucent and sometimes opaque color. This process imitates traditional watercolor painting techniques while working with found objects incorporating the surrounding city. Inspired by and utilizing recycled original Leslie Buck-designed New York coffee cups, the paper used to wrap Bodega Flowers, graff markers, napkins, magazine clippings, leftover foam core retail window display backgrounds, and paper doilies, plastic table cover rolls from discount homegoods.
This body of work is the reflection of an artist at the beginning of experimenting with art, music, spiritual channels, and various healing modalities. Each piece is an omnimedium practice reflecting an exploration into the deep realms of consciousness and the western esoteric story. The result is a rediscovery within an already existing creative process which reveres both traditional painting schools of thought and modern graffiti techniques.
Recherchez 2006
SUNY New Paltz B.F.A. Thesis, Painting & Drawing
Undergraduate Bachelor of Fine Arts presentation at the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY. The show consists of 5 oil paintings and 40 encaustic drawings.
'Recherchez' by definition is the second-person plural present indicative of the french verb rechercher; meaning to research, search, look for, look into, pursue, quest retrieve. Loosely translated into English in this form of a verb can suggest a meaning of looking outside of oneself. Synonyms include: rare, esoteric, abstruse.
This body of work is the embodiment of childhood memories, capturing fleeting moments that potentially exist only in the minds’ eye - in turn questioning the existentialism of our own imaginations. Research shows that our earliest childhood memories are intricately shaped by our experiences within our own families and cultures. As adults looking back to childhood, we cannot typically recall anything before age 3-4 years because our brains do not develop the ability to store autobiographical memories until we reach at least two years old. While the development of language and sense of self enable our earliest childhood memories to form, family factors shape their contents. Our earliest recollections could be completely fictional, but these paintings seek to question not the validity of autobiographical memories only to confirm that they have existed somewhere.
“What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough. ”
DRAWINGS
Most Recent
coming soon…
Figure Drawings
A collection of figure drawings over years of sessions. The art of observing and capturing the human form has always been a grounding practice, whenever lost in creative process. It’s a great way to bring meditation and framework to the occasionally overwhelming artist landscape. It can be expressive and simple, while connecting to the roots of the Renaissance masters who were first discovering the essence of the human form through both art and science.
Textiles 2007
2007-2008 was significant because it marked the official move from Upstate New York to the City. Various works inspired by urban textiles, and the sudden change of surroundings from the wilderness of New Paltz, NY to Brooklyn and Queens. Working out of a small shared studio in Brooklyn these pieces reflect the realization of gentrification encompassing the landscape. Animals invade established textile patterns, and the city with its imposing water towers overlooking the teeming life below. The introduction of graphic design’s influence also begins during this time, as a career in advertising starts to take shape.
Audobon 2018
The audubon society has a deep history in the northeast US, and growing up our father would take us to the preservations in Buffalo often. John James Audubon’s book Birds of America was a book of reference that was used often to learn to draw in my grandparents’ home. My brother was so influenced by the naturalist who painted, cataloged, and described birds - he became a conservatist himself. My response are the following drawings reflecting the fascination with these creatures whose significance has spanned history both as spiritual and symbolic representations.
“...cries she, With silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
OBJECTS
Flopmoji’s 2018-2019
As humanity oscillates between the collective urge to push the boundaries of technology’s ability to facilitate borderless human collaboration and the individual urge to retreat into the comfort and security of nostalgia - these FlopMoji’s invoke a moment of reflection on where our achievements have brought us and where our human community is going.
Upon reflection, Emojis have become an expression of emotion in response to how fast our communication has been changing. They are a symbol of desire to retrieve the freedom of emotion in a sea of digital sequestration. The Emoji serves as a new type of language on a new communication platform, and by placing it on an obsolete piece of hardware that once represented memory, the resulting artwork plays with the interaction between language, emotion, and memory in these moments of cultural transition and conflict. Superficially they can be compared to hieroglyphic languages of the ancients, but the apparition and increased popularity of the emoji is more about technology taking human form.
Floppy Disks 2014
Just as the First and Second Industrial revolutions preceded and ushered large-scale conflict, theThird Industrial Revolution not only seems to herald similar human conflicts, it also promises ecological disaster. Given this awareness, sustainability is top of mind, and my focus has included using recycled objects as the canvas.
The floppy disc is now obsolete, and its form has been appropriated as the ‘save’ icon. Drawing on this irony, these works repurpose and ‘save’ this detritus of technological revolutions . Proving that the knowledge created by fine art can evolve as fast as digital design. Art can save as quickly as technology can slay.
Chanel Bottles 2013
While discovering new mediums, including glass and recycled alternative canvas - these pieces are a continuation of explorations in transparency, layers, and shapes of color to define an object. Rather than tossing away a carefully crafted expensive piece of product design, the bottles are turned into something new, juxtaposing traditional street art with luxury carefully crafted product design. The intent reflects the luxury world’s obsession with high-low fashion, highlighting the hypocrisy of an industry that constantly manufactures new merchandise to look old in an effort to be hip
“We’re all going to the same place, and we’re all on a path. Sometimes our paths converge. Sometimes they separate, and we can hardly see each other, much less hear each other. But on the good days, we’re walking on the same path, close together, and we’re walking each other home.”