statement

Wrinkles and folds, remnants and ruins, clumps, clusters, drapery, drippery.

I am inspired by the textures and idiosyncrasies of the surfaces and skins that surround me: wrinkles on the human body, the bruised skin of a fruit, the peeling bark of a tree, or the caulk that oozes from the grooves of the sidewalk.  As people or things age, they invariably begin to wear their surroundings and encounters as if they were a kind of clothing.  I am drawn to this evidence of life and am motivated to highlight, and often exaggerate and manipulate, this growth and decay through painting.  I will often inject signs of aging and weathering where they do not actually exist but where it seems to me as if they could or should.  Though always initially inspired by something I've seen, my works take form in both representational and abstract compositions.

Oil paint lends itself well to this exploration as it can be "glopped" and smeared and dragged and wormed around the canvas or lightly speckled and peppered and amassed like particles. The textures I am inspired by are often shaped through addition and subtraction over time.  I can build up paint in layers and mimic the natural processes I strive to portray by slowly adding and removing select marks.  To this end, I like to use tape in my work as it allows me to more readily return to earlier layers.  I also use a palette knife to peel and scrape paint to excavate previous states of creation.  It is my hope that the paintings themselves will continue to morph and evolve over time just like the surfaces that inspire them.

bio

born: 1989, New York, New York

education

Washington University in St. Louis, BFA, 2012

selected awards/honors

The School of Visual Arts Summer Residency Program, 2013
Brooklyn Art Space Recent Graduate Residency Program, 2012.
The Hazel H. Huntsinger Memorial Prize in Painting, Washington University in St. Louis, 2012.
The Hazel H. Huntsinger Memorial Prize in Painting, Washington University in St. Louis, 2011.

selected publications

The Artist's Magazine 29th Annual Student Art Competition, 2012
Creative Quarterly, The Journal of Art & Design; Issue 28.  New York, NY: 3x3 Publishing, 2012
Spires Literary Magazine. St. Louis, MO: 2012
Spires Literary Magazine. St. Louis, MO: 2010

selected group shows

Introductions. Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2012
Member Salon. Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2012
Subject to Change, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 2012
Solipsismal, ArtDimensions Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 2011