things

a fungus in a patch of leaves. a wasp nest in tree branches. ruins overgrown with vines. the colony. the unit. the cluster. veins searching outward and stemming from a common channel. nodules. blight. disease. lichen. mold. cell growth. viral growth. burl. tumor. weakness seized. organization. organ. organic. organize. (all from Greek "organum", "an instrument or tool"). implied labor. the labor of life. the strange order of things....

abstraction

my current paintings are abstractions. they are further removed from representation than my ink drawings. it's difficult to explain the significance of work that is abstract. the work is still influenced by conflicts with religion and nature, and the forms that come out of this struggle are these paintings. i believe that there are still forms and formal relationships that challenge what we know, or think we know. and when any form sits on the edge of knowledge or belief, then there is power.

more painting...

william butler yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all around it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

ambition

"If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it." John D. Rockefeller said this. I have been thinking about this quote a lot lately, because it relates to art as well. Do I want to be famous, or do I want to do something more substantial with my work? I've often confused success with the former, but since moving to San Francisco, I've considered with more focus the purpose of my work, not just for me, but for all those who encounter it. I believe that there is still a role for thoughtful images, and I hope to create some. So, while much of the content of my work is about my own personal challenges, questions and sensibilities, I intend to convey these things in a manner that makes them accessible and meaningful to others. Maybe a more concise way of stating my general goal is that I intend to influence people's consciousness. It's not the same thing as "social activist" art or interactive art in the way this term is normally used, but I think it can still be as significant. The next question is: "in what way do I intend to influence people's consciousness"? This is a tougher question than how I define success or whether or not images are still powerful enough to make a difference. It's a question that only arises if you believe that images have power and that artists have a choice in the matter, both of which I do believe...but I'll have to get back to this a little later.

new painting

here is a new painting that i still don't quite know how to evaluate. here's a portion of what i wrote in my journal:
it's more decorative. clearly finished. clean. not layered, but direct. there is tension b/w vague sense of representation and raw materiality of medium and straightforwardness of techniques. seems to reference plant life and art nouveau stylization. can easily see this as a stained glass piece b/c black foundation still visible b/w marks, separating them. does not appear to describe depth -- the black showing through and "once over" painting style keeps it flat. but there is subtle underlying violence that's hard to pinpoint. it's not b/c it's over-the-top or ironically beautiful. it's too understated for that even though worked. colors are not garish even though metallics and interference colors were used. it's modest but it's still curious. it's all so much about directness of marks and letting paint swirl and move on it's own. it's gentle, but something prevents it from being strictly decorative. my personal response to the material of paint and the task set to myself of describing pictorially my relationship with religion and the natural world. the way i've used paint makes this work as much about the medium of paint as it is about nature. the work is elegiac for a changing and disappearing nature as much as a celebration of it. the paint is nature itself. without sadness.

chelsea art

this image from kim dorland is representative of his show currently up at freight + volume. some of the paint advanced 6" from the support and was held in place by long screws. the smell is the first thing that hit me, and then the excellence of the works themselves. i felt like this was very convincing work about our relationship with natural spaces and the misconceptions of the word "natural." another great show was jacob hashimoto at mary boone. these works behave like relief paintings on the walls. each piece is made up of hundreds of small wood and paper constructions, which resemble paper cocktail umbrellas or small kites. the image created by the conglomeration of these "kites" is saturated with color and feels claustrophobic. some of the images appear vaguely representational so that some figure/ground relationship can be discerned. for example, in one work smoke appears to be emanating from a smokestack or, in the one above, kites congregate at the bottom of the space revealing a field of red sky above. these were deeply compelling works, which ultimately left me pondering the issues of space and over-population. more info from these artists can be found at the galleries' websites:
http://www.freightandvolume.com/
http://www.maryboonegallery.com/