statement
My current body of work focuses on the aftermath of both man made and natural disasters. I archive, appropriate, digitally manipulate and then draw and paint these images. I situate these images somewhere in between abstraction and representation in order to create a dialogue with modernist painting through postmodern practice. I draw and paint these images not only to further slow them down, but to also support traditional notions of the "sublime landscape," one that is uncontrollably vast and frightening, within a contemporary context of anxiety and fear. I choose to focus on moments of reprieve; quiet moments following a climax, where one can assess the physical and emotional damage created by previous events. I am both drawn to these images and repelled by them. They speak of a time where agenda setting, political rhetoric and consumption are perpetuated and often manufactured by the media. As mass media sets the psychological and emotional tone for life as we know it, I work in an attempt to differentiate neurosis from my own understanding of reality.
bio
born:1980, Waukegan, Illinois
education:
Western Illinois University, BFA 2002
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, MFA 2006
selected awards/honors
2nd Place, Third Coast National, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX 2009
1st Place, National Small Works Painting Exhibition, Main Street Gallery, Groton, NY 2006
Fredrick E. Layton Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2002-2003
selected publications
New American Landscape, SprocketBox Publishing, Chicago Illinois, 2010
New American Paintings, Western Edition (No 84) The Open Studios Press, Boston, MA 2009
selected solo or two-person exhibits
"Things Fall Apart" Solo Exhibition, University of Texas-San Antonio Satellite Space, 2010
"Adrift; Paintings of Disaster" Solo Exhibition, McLennan Community College, Waco, TX 2009
"Recent Work" Solo Exhibition, Great Basin College, Elko, NV 2007
"Screen Dreams" MFA Thesis Exhibition, Solo Exhibition, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale University Museum, Carbondale, IL 2006
selected group shows
"Americas 2010: Paper Works National Exhibition," Northwest Art Center, Minot State University, Minot, ND
"Third Coast National Exhibition," K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX
"A Vernacular of Dissent: American Expression and the America of George W Bush," Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL
"Terra Firma-Contemporary Landscapes," International Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
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