I
desire an art that turns on the viewer.
I
desire an art that is a turn on, because it is so sensual, draws in, envelops,
merges and unites with the viewer.
I
desire an art that turns on the viewer.
I
desire an art that turns on, because it is so slippery that, once
inside, it goes sour, churns, becomes bitter, grows rancid with a reality that
we would rather not remember.
My
paintings embrace both figuration and abstraction, unified by a conceptual
framework. Several installations grew
from painting concerns and the desire to more directly involve the viewer. My concerns as an artist are many:
eliciting an empathic response, posing a delicate balance, floating between
worlds, admitting the vulnerable, regurgitating the insidious, inducing a
physical reaction, evoking the political through the intimate,
presenting...
the
game, the show,
the
displayed, the displaced,
the
held and binder,
the
unleashed, the treacherous and trampled,
the
lost, the free and feared,
oneÕs
self as actor
and
agent.
The eclectic nature of
my work is the consequence of concurrent ontological and epistemological
searches. The dichotomous tension
between figurative and non-objective imagery is apparent initially, but breaks down upon closer inspection into more
complex issues surrounding representation and abstraction,
Downsizing, (slide 5) evokes Barnett
NewmanÕs WhoÕs Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue and Philip TaafeÕs We Are Not Afraid, while postulating an inevitable
return to narration as the end result of interpretation. Retribution Stains (slide 4) conflates the
tyrannies of Platonic idealism, the constraints of Suprematist utopianism, and
the indignities of executing international justice, through its black and white
figure ground.
vision and visuality,
and
Blind Spot (slide 16) charts the site of retinal attachment as that
of endemic and systemic cultural bias and ignorance. Surveillance (slide 13) investigates the two polarities of the scopic
field, glance
and gaze or
the dynamics of self and other. Its viewer/voyeur observes a hybrid, libidinous ÒphallogocularcentricÓ creature
projecting the reach of desire.
minor and noble
genres.
PlinyÕs ÒminorÓ genres include animal painting (a
selli) and representations of food
stuffs (obsonia
) of which slides 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 could be considered
examples. His ÒnobleÓ genre,
reserved for gods and mythological subjects, is exemplified by the depictions
of the hundred-eyed Argus, bored to death by Hermes, in Shutdown: The Nap of
Equity, (slide
3) and Kronos decapitated by his child in It Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You (slide 2, left panel). Despite PlinyÕs distinctions, the high
and the low cards are played here for comic relief and with dead-pan sincerity.
Mimetic approaches are
covert in the pieces that seem to be patterned fields,
Trumpeting angels from MichelangeloÕs Last Judgement are impossibly lost in the
shards taxonomically displayed in Reconstructing FatherÕs Wall (slide 18). The floating dots and dashes of Understudied (slide 20) are faithfully
rendered medications from an AIDS ÒcocktailÓ regimen, subtly embedded in the. imprimatura
of a nature morte.
just as the severely
edited pictorial spaces containing recognizable imagery are extremely formal
and highly abstracted.
Each painting takes unrepentant refuge in the touch,
the individual stroke or placement, as well as in the Benjaminian conception of
aura. The importance of uniqueness is further
intensified, despite a coolly classic?????/classist precision, through a
self-conscious materiality. The
work dissects and calls attention to the historical and cultural associations
of its constituent parts; its ground (terrycloth, vinyl, plastic, wood, foil, raw cotton,
sterile gauze, canvas, Belgian linen), pigments (powders, dyes, cosmetic
foundation), binders (oil, acrylic, rabbit skin glue,
toxic lead, gum Arabic, lacquer, resin), implements (brush, pan, roller, finger,
rag, ruler, swab), manner of execution (conscious and unconscious design, organized and
chance procedures, etc.),
and display (see enclosed installation slides for further
investigation of unconventional exhibition formats for and probed boundaries of
painting).
Compositional and
spatial features of this set of work are indebted to an Asiatic collapsed (restricted depth) and simultaneously open (free of wanton detail) traditional pictorial
plane. To a large extent, this
strategy is shared in iconic imagery around the world. Spirals, balancing acts, and checked
movements function as visual tropes, focusing the viewerÕs attention inward, an
implosion inciting contemplation.
The working space unfolds within (unlike Leon
Battista AlbertiÕs window), rather than opening up to, the viewer. Without essentialist pretensions, the
unambiguous and confrontational, if illusory, imagery is meant to engage the
viewer regardless of educational, cultural, and socio-economic background. The ambiguous, multiple, and
contradictory interpretive layers foster diverse readings of meaning. Accompanying textual frameworks are
offered to assist, but not narrow, the workÕs legibility.
Believing
that art can rekindle social consciousness through recontextu-alizing social
inequities drives me to seek the most visceral response from the viewer that
specific contexts allow. The complexity of relationships between specific
audiences and issues has led me to explore multiple mediums, from film and
installation to painting and drawing.
Discontent with the current state of affairs, (i.e., domestic and
foreign relations, gentrification, homelessness, or racism) is not enough. How one conveys that discontent, how one
fulfills the need to create dialogue--these questions have frequently led me
outside the studio and into the community. Extensive travel in Asia and Europe has given me other
perspectives from the outside.
Stepping outside the familiar has been instrumental in developing the
critical awareness that informs my work and teaching. While curricula often specify instruction in particular
media, I hope to foster an interpretive and intuitive consciousness that draws
from and feeds upon many disciplines and cultures.
My concerns as an artist are
many: eliciting an empathic response, posing a delicate balance, floating
between worlds, admitting the vulnerable, regurgitating the insidious, inducing
a physical reaction, evoking the political through the intimate,
presenting...
the game, the show,
the displayed, the displaced,
the held and binder,
the unleashed, the
treacherous and trampled,
the lost, the free and
feared,
oneÕs self as actor
and agent.