Each painting in my most recent works pays homage to a specific landscape that has inspired me. The abstraction within these most recent paintings stems from experiences gathered from travels taken over the past two years. The works cathartic undercurrents speak to specific states of being, and feeling, I experienced while navigating through the current unprecedented times. Obviously, the paintings do not reflect a traditional pictorial landscape, but rather are my own personalized abstract distillations of these landscapes. In general, my work investigates the ways that pattern coupled with color can elicit both directional movement and evoke visual harmonies and connections. This approach to my art reflects my fascination with dynamic systems, where states of instability foster new adaptations be it in nature or in our own lives.
I construct the stretchers on which I paint and am deliberate in the way the sides of the paintings’ canvases are painted and physically float off of the wall and cast shadows. The projecting surfaces extend the works’ physical character, creating an opportunity for the edges of the painting to be another visual experience. Though pure, high keyed color is the most evident element in my work, the negative spaces that incorporate the raw surface of the canvas are just as important. The raw canvas highlights the birthplace of the surface while also creating an interesting dialogue amongst the painted areas.
Color, coupled with geometric shapes, are strategic modes for me to be specific about. In this grouping of recent works, the unpainted canvas corresponds to the forms and subtle bone-like tonality of the disappearing coral in the Pacific Ocean, or the disappearance of sand along the west coast. Other colors are pulled directly from the creatures, earth pigments, plants, and undersea habitats I observed in the Pacific Ocean and throughout the Colorado landscape. Likewise, the triangular shape of the ubiquitous ice plant that covers the rugged bluffs of the northern California coastline, and the repeating patterns of the offshore ocean tides inform another series of works. The ice plant being planted to stop erosion became symbolic of the instability within my own marriage that ended in divorce. In addition, the deep reddish, plum, pink, and varied green hues of the ice plant spoke to that state of being for me at that time heading into uncharted territory through my art and life simultaneously.
The newest paintings, “Clear Creek Swallowtails”, and “Cold Plunge”, celebrate my frequent routine of cold soaking in different and equally beautiful environments to clear my head, work out, and relax. The horizontality of the “Cold Plunge” composition references physically being enveloped by the sucking and pulling of the ocean tides as I would frequently swim in and around China Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Reyes, and in Bolinas while living in San Francisco. Likewise, the verticality of the “Clear Creek Swallowtails” composition takes inspiration from the monumental heights of Colorado’s Clear Creek Canyon experienced while cold soaking in it’s streams. The pallet actively pulls from the Colorado environment while highlighting hues found throughout the many fluttering Western Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. Together these varied bodies of work speak to both celebrating and examining a certain state of instability over time. My interest as an artist is to optimistically discover and echo these patterns. I hope all of you will be further encouraged to uncover these pathways and undercurrents for yourselves in my work. Thank you all for your time and attention while considering my newest works for this impactful opportunity to exhibit in collaboration with the Eleanor Harwood Gallery and the Minnesota Street Project.