There are some objects that are so painfully commonplace that they have been designed to make people not think about them. Ceiling tiles, cheap sneakers, and lamps, to name a few. I make art about the personal stories behind these unseen objects. This is the focus of my art because I spend a lot of time pondering what stories these objects might have in their pasts, or, since they’re often such ubiquitous parts of our daily lives, what events they might have borne witness to. 

 

When I make my work, I try to use at least one or two materials that relate in some way to the object whose story I am telling. In my current work, that means that I’m working on wood and in drywall compound to relate to stories about the workplace. Usually I pick the techniques that I use in my work by thinking about how I want the final piece to look, pondering through the various ways that I can turn my materials into that final picture, and picking the most plausible and effective-seeming path. In some past work, that’s meant that I have worked slowly and with many thin washes of color. In my current work, this means that I put down a lot of broader, less precise layers of material with a focus on texture. My process and technique are often very specific to how I envision my work in my head, even before any part of it’s reached paper. 

 

Currently, I am making paintings about work boots, because shoes are so ubiquitous that I think that nearly everyone must have some story about them, even if they might not remember it. My current work focuses on stories about shoes in the context of factory or construction work. A lot of my prior work about objects has been in scenes, usually with a particular focus on lighting. My current work isn’t about the scene or location it instead focuses solely on the object. With my work, I want to challenge the idea that anything is so regular or everyday that it isn’t worth examining further. I hope that when people see my work, it makes them think about the everyday things that no one thinks about.