Artist Statement
My approach is not one of addition—only subtraction. Options are eliminated, details deleted and suppressed. What is left offers a kind of visual resistance; the subjects are grounded. The paintings themselves are emphatically physical, the paint matte and the support clearly visible. In this pursuit, I am inspired by the still life paintings of Giorgio Morandi. Critic Hilton Kramer once described Morandi’s art as “emanating from some inviolate zone of privacy, serenity and detachment,” a welcome respite from “a noisy and embattled world” (NYT, 12/6/81). Like Morandi, my paintings are admittedly quiet, but far from serene.
The two series I’m working on, Orange Equipment and VELPCo, are both focused on particular buildings, which stand-alone like sentinels. Orange Equipment is what it says in white lettering on a blue sign, on a building with ridiculous proportions and a footprint that is anything but rectangular. The VELPCo series reflects the structure gripping the ground like an old cathedral.
Painting Orange Equipment, large no. 1, I was thinking of Monet’s paintings of haystacks; he had painted dozens of these, some backlit as the sun was setting. To me those haystacks appear like bizarre and hilarious totems, otherworldly beings who just beamed onto earth and realized they were wearing the wrong camouflage. I used a fluorescent orange as an undercoat, just to see how far from a rational palette I could go.
My brain is also embattled and noisy. Unlike in previous series, there are no adjacent buildings in the immediate vicinity to offer support, and no roads to cross. We have reached the last line of defense.
The two series I’m working on, Orange Equipment and VELPCo, are both focused on particular buildings, which stand-alone like sentinels. Orange Equipment is what it says in white lettering on a blue sign, on a building with ridiculous proportions and a footprint that is anything but rectangular. The VELPCo series reflects the structure gripping the ground like an old cathedral.
Painting Orange Equipment, large no. 1, I was thinking of Monet’s paintings of haystacks; he had painted dozens of these, some backlit as the sun was setting. To me those haystacks appear like bizarre and hilarious totems, otherworldly beings who just beamed onto earth and realized they were wearing the wrong camouflage. I used a fluorescent orange as an undercoat, just to see how far from a rational palette I could go.
My brain is also embattled and noisy. Unlike in previous series, there are no adjacent buildings in the immediate vicinity to offer support, and no roads to cross. We have reached the last line of defense.
