statement

I am interested in visual narratives that explore the individual's search for identity in a changing world: How do we define ourselves in the contemporary context, and what are the factors that inform and qualify this definition? In this process, who we are is often accompanied and even superseded in our minds by who we are not. The persistence of such oppositions in our psyches implies an internal struggle that is often central to my paintings and drawings.

My recent work questions the foundations of mainstream concepts of masculinity. I contrive fictional worlds where men exist in awkward relationships with one another, teetering uneasily between the forces that have shaped them and those that threaten to destroy them. This work explores how boys are socialized and how this socialization affects both their identity as adults and their interactions with other men. The humor inherent in my narratives emphasizes the sometimes absurd preconceptions and behaviors that influence relationships between men.

In this series, certain connections have developed between my working practice and the content in my work. The figures in my compositions are drawn or painted from photo-based collages made by recombining parts from various images of men. The collage process references how boys form their concept of male roles, i.e. by piecing together the perceived characteristics of cultural icons and stereotypes with those of influential men in their lives. The awkwardness of the figures resulting from this method reflect both the challenge men face to integrate these disparate qualities and the difficulties they encounter in their efforts to live up to society's ambiguous role expectations. Incompletely rendered forms and evidence of erasure, correction, obfuscation, and expressive processes refer to the actual art-making as well as to the mutability of gender constructs and the struggle boys face in their efforts to forge a masculine identity.

bio

education

University of Connecticut, MFA, 2006
Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, BFA, 2001

selected awards/honors

Artist Resource Trust Grant, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 2011
Artist Fellowship Grant, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, 2010 and 2004
Fulbright Fellowship: Bulgaria, Institute of International Education, 2006

selected publications

New American Paintings, Open Studio Press,  July 2007, p. 175

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Solo Show, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2012
Man-to-Man, Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 2009
Parallel Worlds, Brad Guarino and Nadine Zanow, Serdika Gallery, Rousse, Bulgaria, 2007
Solo Show, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2005

selected group shows

Gender Matters/Matters of Gender, Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, PA, 2011
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum: Radius Exhibition, Ridgefield Guild of Artists, Ridgefield, CT, 2010
Sixth International Triennial of Graphic Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2010
The Balkan Quadrennial of Painting: Myths and Legends of My People, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, 2008