he paintings within my series Recreations depict scenic locations often known before experienced, and the activity that occurs when one visits these locales in person. Headlamps, English Breakfast Tea, Post-it Notes, and Halter Bikinis are integrated into scenes of American natural splendor, with results conflating the private and the commercial.”

Duncan renders the images with both brushed and sprayed acrylic and oil paint. During the spray process, he uses form-specific stencils to apply coarse dots of multiple colors, which creates an illusion inspired partly by mail order catalog imagery -- where an ocean behind beach-combing models contains thousands of tiny offset printed dots. The combined processes result in an interplay between soft-focused 'grainy' backgrounds and the tightly rendered realism of the objects in the foreground.

The paintings have a mysterious air about them, containing identifiable elements in settings that appear familiar though never seen before in such a context. The viewer is left to ponder the presence of the staged everyday objects and human figures captured in the remote outdoor environments.

• Alabama Hills; Post-it Note, oil and acrylic on linen, 52 X 20", 2004
• Mt. Whitney; Zipka Headlamp, oil and acrylic on linen, 12 X 31”, 2004

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• Badwater; English Breakfast Tea, oil and acrylic on linen, 10 x 15", 2002

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• Gypsum Dunes; Pareo #1, oil and acrylic on linen, 58 x 86", 2003
• Big Sur; Watermelon, oil and acrylic on linen, 17 x 25", 2003

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• Carpinteria Beach; Hidden Good, oil and acrylic on linen, 14 x 20", 2003
• Guadeloupe Peak; Strawberries, oil and acrylic on linen, 10 x 15", 2003

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• Pfeiffer Beach; Halter Bikini, oil and acrylic on linen, 73 x 111", 2003
• Kelso Dunes; Pitch, oil and acrylic on linen, 96 x 65", 2003

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