There’s always a lot of talk about finding your happy place, so I’ve been thinking about this lately and realized that my happy place isn’t really a place, but actually the people who are closest to me, and events that have changed the direction of my life. So, I decided to create this series of acrylic color field paintings in the format of polaroid photos including the old school date stamp. The reason the images are colors is because most of the time, when I reflect on these important people and events, I tend to remember them in color rather than as actual images.
Like plants, people continually go through phases of dormancy and reinvention. The works in this series explore this opposing yet inseparable cycle in my own life, and also in relation to the broader shared human experience. This body of work addresses the recurring concept of where we’ve been and where we can go. In the midst of heightened uncertainty and a collective tendency towards polarity, this series suggests an opposing, optimistic, unifying perspective as the vehicle forward.
Decisions, Decisions represents the range of thoughts and ideas that pop up when the mind reignites. The various colors painted in acrylic and gouache spring forth from the black and white photo pigment prints with verve, with seriousness, with trepidation, with conviction.
Best of Both Worlds reveals how two distinct environments, land and sea, are not so different. Although the black and white photo is comprised of dormant plant life on the ground, once color is added, these same dead plants come alive, transforming the image into a fluid, vibrant underwater scene. It doesn’t take much to create harmony between what may seem to be two vastly different entities.
Sky Is the Limit highlights the complexity of life in the 21st century. Thousands of black, white and grey shapes comprised of dormant leaves, sticks and dirt, translate almost like the static on an old t.v., but then a sweeping wave of colors build from left to right breathing identity into what had previously only blended into the crowd.
Surprise Me is an homage to my son Angel who passed away from a lifetime struggle with cardiac complications. The sturdy stems and ultra-vibrant, otherworldly blue and green leaves reflect his tenacity; one that could put climbing vines to shame. His love of novelty and the unexpected consistently shone through, upstaging the black and white nature of his situation, so the piece contains a little surprise of its own in his honor.
At the Emergence event, I asked attendees to come surround themselves with the comforting sound of birds, and add their sense of home to the giant nest by weaving in strips of cloth, wrapping it with yarn and twine, and painting its branches. Then, just as the markings on bird eggs tell us about the bird who made them, to personalize their own egg to add to the dynamic nest slowly emerging. The eggs represent not only their individual uniqueness, but also our vibrant, colorful community, coexisting, collectively protecting and anticipating what is soon to hatch; something each person will be able to take home at the end of the event, which was a sea sponge to show that we’re all the shell and we’re all the sponge, constantly adding to our identities and soaking up what’s around us. Photos show the before and after and I’ve added a little 360 video so you can see all that the attendees added to transform and build the nest.
