My work uses drawing to investigate an imagined place, one that is a post apocalyptic, dystopian society full of mischief. While my future outlook for life is sometimes grim I still feel the need to offer the world a heroic icon in art. In this created world, which is pieced together symbolically from memories, historical events, art history, and current moments in time I present to you a fallible hero. The hero character aims to achieve some type of realization of self through the adventure of art.

My ideas of adventure and heroics are influenced by literature that tackled the same issues- Pinocchio, Lord of the flies, Calvin and Hobbes. While I will continue to attempt to be heroic in some aspect of my real life I realize I‚m just a guy that wakes up, drinks coffee, and goes to work. However, when I am in my studio I do feel powerful and capable of creating something special.

Like most people a good cup of coffee starts my day. I stain my paper with this same common commodity in an attempt to link these abstract drawings to the shared human experience and reconnect to the joy of making art as a child who faces the world as it comes. The staining process presents challenges that I seek to have little control over and the imagery, each and every time must be discovered and manipulated into pleasing forms and a cohesive narrative. You can consider these drawings as caffeinated moments from a young artist life.

 

born: 1980, Memphis,TN

education

University of Memphis BFA 2007
Yale Summer Residency, 2006

selected awards/honors

2009 Lotterman Fellowship, University of Madison,WI
2007 River Arts Festival Invitational, Memphis, TN
2006 Ellen Battell Stoekel Fellowship, Yale Summer Residency