I hope you enjoy this page I have put together that showcases all of the major developments in my work over the past year. There is something for everyone, is what I have been told by quite a few early previewers. I take that as a compliment since I worked on these series with others in mind.
The wonderful thing to me is that I created this much work despite the ups and downs of 2021. Not all of this year's work has my normal elegant finish. Some of it is very raw, and I chose to leave it that way because it expressed exactly how I felt. There is admittedly some healing being done with this work and I felt I needed to also share that side of my practice.
This new work uncovers a secret world in the minds and souls of my birds. My normally fictitious avian world is brought into realtime focus as clues of contemporary human events related to wins and loses, struggles and successes begin to emerge from normally benign areas of my work. Technically this series blends my current bird style with elements reminiscent of my previous fROG style. In many cases, I was unwilling to cloak thoughts and numbers in subtle expression.
With this series I was in search of new methods for storytelling with my work. These paintings eschew the sometimes minimal or simplistic designs I usually am drawn to and instead fill any and all voids with texture or text that supports the theme of the work. This approach helped me re-introduce techniques I enjoyed from the past, while updating them for my current tastes. It was also very fun to paint this series and I plan to do more, perhaps an Owls 3.0.
This series is all about the heroes, villains, and jesters that dominate our attention these days.
This work is a new area of development for me, so there is just a start up of ideas thus far. My purpose of inquiry and expression with these pieces is more about looking for the macro views of the world via detailed investigation of specific scenarios and players. Again, since this series is starting out, it could have been held back until fully baked. However, I loved the results thus far and felt compelled to share those images with you as well.
This nostalgic series aims to reframe historic moments in sports and pop culture where the performer's elevated their sponsor's brand to a new level of cultural relevance. Beyond the shoes, these paintings leave the historic stage nearly devoid of detail for us to refill in with our own memories of the moments and performers.
Each of these paintings have stories related to why they impacted myself and others as athletes, artists, and fans. For instance, it was seeing Joan Benoit Samuelson win the first Women's Olympic Marathon in LA in 1984 that motivated me to learn more about the sport and in turn launch a 35 year running career myself. The story behind her performance is one of lore for you to learn about at your leisure. I'll be sharing a painting dedicated to the moment she entered the stadium on her way to making history.
