My current work examines how identity and hybridity manifest as abstraction in painting. I am informed by an exploration of the semiotics of color and decoration and an engagement with both macro and micro systems in society and nature. The paintings are often labor-intensive in execution and wonky in tone, a juxtaposition that results in strong emotive qualities or a sense of uneasiness. This intensity and discomfort reflect the myriad collisions—whether intellectual, psychological or physical—that we encounter daily as a result of differences—cultural, socioeconomic, geographical, biological, etc. The work interrogates the state of being of the individual and his/her relationship to the Other (in this case as defined by his/her experiences and perceptions, rather than mainstream values); and presents the viewer with subtle interventions. The viewer is challenged to reconsider the proscriptive history of painting within the Western Canon: an appropriate provocation for inhabitants of the 2010s.
These paintings feature a language of drips and hard-edge bands that represent converging physical and cultural spaces. They are enhanced by the way that I use color. I mix brights and darks to create neutrals and then juxtapose all in the paintings. My tones, literal hybrids, are used to create both mark and ground; further shifting perceived boundaries and foretelling anxious junctures.
These paintings feature a language of drips and hard-edge bands that represent converging physical and cultural spaces. They are enhanced by the way that I use color. I mix brights and darks to create neutrals and then juxtapose all in the paintings. My tones, literal hybrids, are used to create both mark and ground; further shifting perceived boundaries and foretelling anxious junctures.
