Finicky Materials

Final Test. Latex, enamel, and gesso on wood. March 2013.

I LOVE new and foreign materials. Unfortunately, my favorites always happen to be hazardous or ephemeral. For instance, one of my tests that included latex will start to wilt and disintegrate in six months, and I’m looking for a material that could stick around in a gallery for a while.

I have been using, and will continue to use traditional painting materials in conventional ways so that I will have brought tradition into the conversation; and with that, the rest of the work functions to 'push up' against these formal qualities. Four bars, stretched canvas, gesso, oil ground, etc. I will paint an abstracted image onto the canvas to my full ability with oil, spray, and enamel paints. This sets the stage for future material experimentation, which I have done before, but this time I will go way too far. 

Ready for Overkill

One of three photomontages that will be used as a jumping-off point. March 2013.

I really enjoy the process of adding, subtracting, and shifting around that painting allows me to do. With this future work, I plan to question and challenge the edges of a canvas. What I had learned from the tests is how very crucial this subtractive element is to the paintings, and how this adds the sharp contrast of order vs. chaos. They have helped me come to one of the many solutions I must make in this endeavor. There are possibilities for the subject matter to spill off of the surface being that it is so full.

I want to propose a plan for three large works on canvas that will potentially include oil paints and enamels, collaged elements, and found objects. I plan to use tar in these works due to its sculptural qualities and references to tarring and feathering. I cannot yet say how far the materials will descend off of the canvas; ironically I plan to have no plan for that aspect. Once I’ve had “my full” of art making on the object, it will be done. This is the part that is most exciting to me; what I do not know. The important thing is that I am taking an enjoyable process and plan to fill, and “spill” this work off of the edges of the canvas until I am physically exhausted. 

Painting of photomontage. April 2013.

Overdose of...Fun?

"Carnivale"

There is something about the throwing up; (bear with me on this) the reflex that tells the body to stop putting excess amounts, or rotten things, into it. People have triggers so that they physically know when or what is too much. It is possible for the eye too, and the brain suffers the consequences. There is something terrifying about being out of control; loss of the sense of knowing when something is overdone or filled to the brim. Tanning too much, Overdosing on drugs, or the essence of being sore from too much sexual or physical activity. What if these triggers did not exist? What if people could just eat and eat and eat and drink forever?