Paper Works
When it comes to making art, I enjoy breaking rules, and I’ve found that working with paper is particularly liberating in this rule-breaking category. Often, my process will start as a double-dare in thought: What if I wait for the acrylic to partially dry and then add really wet watercolor and let the two mingle? What if I add a dissolved vitamin to that too pink pink? What if I use these metal-carving tools to etch into the semi-dried paint layers to get a partway glimpse of the original mark that was hidden, now partly seen? These thoughts realized in action create a rhythm in experimentation, and a new rule of my own is born: stop the process when the most novel, most unexpected outcome is revealed.
The paper works presented at Art Basel, Miami (December, 2016) represent a time of deep experimentation during my artist residency with Starry Night Programs in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Found plant materials added dimension to each piece and the hot desert sun shortened drying times, as I layered watercolor and acrylic, scraped away with carving tools and layered again. Fluorescent colored, plastic pool toys found at the local dollar store were cut and collaged into several works. I went for swims at the local municipal pool and ventured to a Tibetan Buddhist temple in town, meeting retired artists and soul seekers. My works attempt to capture the contrasting beauty and pockets of severe poverty in the area: a sky of constant change in color and mood, a mountain range evolving in shadow at the mercy of the sun, and in the foreground, sometimes overlooked because of such a giant sky, the truth, scraped away between the dilapidated trailers and cacti.
