Comfort Zones

Painting landscapes, especially tiny ones, is a thing of comfort. They are deeply satisfying to hold in my hand, where they become a physical manifestation of a memory the size of a matchbox.

The act of painting landscapes retroactively using photographs as reference is in itself a kind of escapism. As I paint, I sink into the fragrant soil of Point Reyes, watch elephants jockey over waterholes in South Africa, and breathe asphalt and air freshener as I speed along the highways of the American West on long road trips. Creating landscapes is also a means to experience the place where I now live, and to find beauty in everyday places.

Surveying this collection of nearly 100 paintings, I feel a sense of comfort remembering just how many of them I’ve seen, how many places I have felt deeply happy and at home, jubilant with the breeze on my face, the wet mist and the sun in the air, the crunch of the dirt and rock and grass beneath my feet.

Most images in this series are based on photos I took on my phone, and a few photos from family or online sources have found their way into the mix. A few pieces depict places I’ve never actually been—truly, the dreamiest projection of all—imagining myself in a moment that I did not, in actuality, experience.

Perhaps in viewing these places—some of which you may recognize, many of which are likely foreign—you will recognize something familiar in them. The vistas we cling to are not permanent, and this is an unbearably sad thought; yet there are so many places to embrace, so many iterations of everything. Landscapes change--sometimes subtly, and sometimes drastically—from moment to moment and second to second. There is room in you for many landscapes, and for you in them.

Mt. Shasta, CA. Jan 2018 (L), (assorted), Lime Ridge Open Space, CA. June 2018 (R)

Geysers at Yellowstone N.P. July 2017.

Bodega Bay sunset.

Lime Ridge Open Space, CA. June 2018

Tahoe, NV. Oct. 2013

Tsitsikamma Park, SA. 2016.

Addo Elephant Park, SA. April 2016 - elephant, zebras, warthogs

Outside of Tulsa, Osage County. 2017.

Asheville, NC. Fall 2017

In between TX and Tulsa. Jan 2017

Joshua Tree N.P., CA. 2017

Old neighborhood: McAllister and Steiner, Fog over Alamo Square Park.

Voringsfoss, Hordaland, Norway. May 2018. (top)

Hardangervidda N.P., Norway. April 2018. (middle)

Mom in Saint-Emilion, France. 1985. (bottom)

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone. July 2017.

Phenomenon

What do we mean when we talk about “oil consumption”? The average American uses around three gallons of oil a day. It is an essential part of our economy; it drives our vehicles, flies our planes, is the base for the synthetic products we use in the household or in the clothing we wear. It is even part of the food we eat.

Why paint or write or even think about any of this? Because oil is a finite resource. We have already used over half of the earth’s oil supply, in just about a century’s worth of consumption. I use petroleum products every hour of every day, and I wanted to take a moment to slow down and learn about why and how it has become such an essential part of my existence.

This body of work began in 2017 during an art residency in a tiny, rural town in Oklahoma called Alva. It observes the intimate, complex relationship humans have with our petroleum products.

It is about the oil jacks that litter the landscape, rocking up and down.

About the refineries—their necessity and their ugliness.

It hints at the everyday life enabled by and shrouded in petroleum, and our complicity.

It is about the history of oil, of the automobile, of American innovation and destruction and of our need for speed and convenience, which always go hand-in-hand.

As energy industries continue to innovate and markets to shift, as fossil fuel resources become scarcer and renewable energy sources become more abundant, this multimedia installation opens the door to consider humanity’s relationship with oil.

Baby Guzzler

Oil paint on plastic tarp. 8ft x 12ft (installation view at NWOSU. Alva, OK. 2017)

Gas Guzzlers

Oil paint on plastic tarp. 20ft x 10ft. (installation view in Alva, OK.)

"Gas Guzzlers" and "Pretty" (installation view at NWOSU Alva, OK, with jerry can)

"This Way/J'Accuse"

Watercolor on yupo paper. (installation view at NWOSU in Alva, OK)

"Phenomenon" film projection and "Pumpjack Field" drawings on plastic (installation view at NWOSU in Alva, OK)

"Pumpjack Field"

"Phenomenon" film and "Pumpjack Field" oil crayon drawing on plastic tarp. Drawing measures 15ft x 20ft. (installation view at NWOSU in Alva, OK)

Pretty

A depiction of the Golden Eagle Oil Refinery in Martinez, CA. Watercolor on yupo paper. 18in x 26in.

"Tiny Pumpjacks" and "Tanker Accidents 1 & 2"

Watercolor on paper. Sizes vary from 6in to 10in.

Tanker Accident 1

Watercolor on paper. 3.5in x 5.5in.

Plastic Bag Magic Dance

Assorted materials (installation view at NWOSU in Alva, OK). Seen on the ground: "Tanker Train".

Tanker Train (detail)

Oil crayon on plastic tarp. 8in x 12ft.

(untitled)

Oil paint and oil crayon on yupo paper. 22in x 26in.

Soaking

Selenite crystals, motor oil and plastic planter tray.

"Falling Deep Below Heaven" series

“Falling ‘Deep Below Heaven’” is a series of three, life-size watercolor portraits that together explore the delicious abandon, the uncertainty, the sorrow and the peace experienced through the act of letting go of a tenacious yet ultimately ineffectual grasp on a sense of control. The figures fall from the paper even as they remain attached, finally landing and becoming grounded. This commune with the inevitable and uncontrollable is a process that is completely human; it is mysterious and frightening, but it is necessary and even, maybe, good.

Early Morning Fall

Watercolor/pen&ink on Arches paper. 100in x 44in

Deep Below Heaven

Watercolor/pen&ink on Arches paper. 100in x 44in

By Evening

Watercolor/pen&ink on Arches paper. 100in x 44in

Detail, "Early Morning Fall"

Detail, "Deep Below Heaven"

Detail, "By Evening"

Gallery installation view. Arc Gallery, San Francisco, March 2015.

Study for "Early Morning Fall". 11x14in

Study for "Deep Below Heaven". 11x14in

Study for "By Evening". 11x14in

Wild Expansion

Hold

Watercolor. 96in x 45in. 2017.

Float

Watercolor. 80in x 52in. 2017.

Women in Rolls

The design of these paintings subverts the viewer's ability to "see" or to perceive each artist at once, reflecting on the subjects’ multifaceted, complex natures. The portraits are painted in watercolor or India ink on the curled ends of Arches paper rolls. They have been displayed as a series across a table top with cotton gloves provided for people to pick up and examine the portraits, as well as individually under glass cloches.

Collected View - February 2017

L to R: Georgia O'Keefe, Eartha Kitt, Francesca Woodman, Frida Kahlo, nudie mag model, Cindy Sherman, Marina Abramovic, Betty Paige, Patti Smith, self, Bjork

Frida Kahlo (by Julien Levy)

Frida Kahlo (2 views)

After Dorothea Tanning's "The Birthday"

After Dorothea Tanning's "The Birthday" (3 views)

After Francesca Woodman

Betty Paige

After Bjork

After Bjork - view 2

After Bjork (2 views)

After Cindy Sherman

Self

Self (3 views)

Leonor Fini

Leonor Fini (3 views)

Eartha Kitt

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama (3 views)

Marina Abramovic

Patti Smith (by Robert Mapplethorpe)

Georgia O'Keefe (by Alfred Stielitz)

Georgia O'Keefe - view 2

Georgia O'Keefe 2

Nudie model (view 1)

Nudie model (view 2)

Nudie model (2 views)

Self-portrait 2

Collected view: Betty Paige, Francesca Woodman, Self-portrait, Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman.

"Transfix | Transfigure" series

Transfix | Transfigure is an ongoing series (started in 2016) about the things we carry in life. The objects balanced around the female shoulders are things I've picked off the ground--broken car window glass and broken chandeliers, feathers, mossy bark. Stepping away from solely painting, I invite the viewer to consider the human body as it relates to the inevitable and mysterious draw of a found object.

"Misty's Arms", a study of ballet dancer Misty Copeland.

"Transfix | Transfigure" installation at The Midway Gallery. October 2016.

"Being and Becoming" series

A shifting, changing sense of self and understanding of the world.

Relationship

Watercolor. 7.5 x 12.5in. 2017.

"Cooling" (L) & "Burning" (R)

Watercolor/pen&ink on paper, mounted on matchboxes. 4.75in x 2.5in ea. 2015.

"Cooling" & "Burning"

Other

Micron on vellum and watercolor on Arches. 2017.

Rise

Watercolor on Arches, mounted on cradled birch panel. 8in ea. 2017.

Within, She Holds Worlds

Watercolor. 8.5in x 5.5in. 2016.

The Finger

Watercolor/pen&ink. 6in x 8in. 2014.

Suspend

Watercolor collage. 8in x 10in. 2016.

Bruised

Watercolor cutout. 7in x 4in. 2016.

Scarf Guard

Watercolor. 11in x 14in. 2014.

See-Through

This recent work centers around beauty and strength that transcends gender and age. Watercolor figures fade in and out of view; they transform and are transformed by the disfiguration caused by water on the translucent paper on which they are painted.