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Untitled, acrylic on paper, 11 x 6.5", 2006

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ARTIST'S STATEMENT:

Metropolitan topography, short of landmark buildings, is anonymous. Similar to traditional landscape, consistent motifs appear - traffic markings on the street, the triangular prism-like perspective, shadowed foregrounds caused by buildings, among other pictorial invariabilities. What interests me is the evolution of landscape into cityscape, through the imposition of urban growth. Painters continue to paint their surroundings, despite or because of ever increasing visual stimuli. At the end of all this, painterly “absolutes” such as light, temperature, and visceral presence assert their incumbency.
Photography, regardless of a reluctance it encounters, has an implicit role in painting today. The concept of a “pure” incident has confounded painting since its inception, now made possible by the camera. This solution may be premature, but is nevertheless a viable one. I paint places I’ve never been, from photos found on the internet unintended for aesthetic purpose, which have been dramatically altered and cropped. I paint buildings and streets I’ve never seen in “real life”. I am enthralled by what lays beneath the picture plane, and the material aspects with which it is rendered. Real life - the notion of empirical encounter and sensory ownership, is not my concern - but rather, a collective geography through the embodiment of our mutual surroundings.