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statement/bio
The way I approach painting is similar to the abstract expressionist -even though that movement seems to be dead. I'm more interested in the process of painting then the actual aesthetic of the finished piece. I don't pre-think anything. I don't mull it around and try and make "art". I just paint what I feel like painting in the moment which is probably the mark of a young artist. My love of art and painting sprouted when I was in 8th grade and my mum bought me a print of an artist named Michael Lue. Lue's work is very colorful and his subject matter is generally of smoking women and cats and fish. His work still blows me away. I think the first painting that really cut through with as me as "art" was Willlem De Kooning's Woman I -- the expression, colors, and movement. I was lucky enough to see the painting at the MOMA when I lived in NY for the past four years. During college, I spent a lot of time in my art history classes just doodling. A lot of my work in the studio reflected those doodles and when a professor turned me onto Cy Twombly it sort of confirmed the notion that the boundaries of painting weren't so narrow. Franz Kline, Rothko and Basquiat began to resonate with me in college and then Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol expanded my notions of concept, art, and identity. For the past four years I lived in New York where I was lucky enough to get an agent and sell some work. I was also very, very lucky to be exposed to a lot of the contemporary art work coming out of New York. I now live in Portland, Oregon where I don't have to pay $600 dollars a month in rent to live in a tiny room. Although I don't have access to the wonderful galleries and museums, I feel like I have a lot more time to create. Portland seems to be a fantastic city. I don't feel like my work conveys much of a theme and I'm not sure I have anything to say but I'm hoping to one day develop my own distinct voice and perhaps my themes will emerge from that. For now, I'm happy to be a guy who likes to paint.
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