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Artist Statement______________________________

My work deals with surface and paint, often using the act of swimming as a larger metaphor. Seemingly placid scenes of leisure are made suspect through strange juxtapositions of scale and figure. Poured skins of molten, encaustic paint create amorphous blobs of color that deny the illusion of depth.

In my most recent work, characters are embedded in landscape. Isolated swimmers wade into off-limit bodies of water; trespassing in resevoirs, wetlands and ornate gardens, crossing the boundary between desire and fear.

The Stranded series examines isolation within the culture of tourism. Figures are out-scaled by nature, geographically related but psychologically removed from the people around them. Either adrift in the shallow sea or deserted in a beach-like setting, the characters are ultimately out of touch with their surroundings. Simultaneously tranquil and vulnerable, this body of work examines the physicality of being alone.

In the Receptacles for Water series, I explore the relationship between architecture and leisure. The paintings suggest depth while simultaneously denying it through contrasting areas of translucency and opacity. The subject matter consists of formalized yet playful Jacuzzis. Framing these seemingly frivolous structures, patterns of brick and tile echo modernist concerns of color and balance. Through repetition, the Jacuzzi becomes a defunct signifier of privilege – a blasé container of over-sanitized desire. Ultimately, I am exploring the manufacturing of pleasure and play - where relaxation is a commodity and leisure comes at a price.