Artist Statement
The history of painting is a cultural mirror. Painting as a mirror or a Painting of a mirror. Painting is a fractal space. Painting is an echo. It is a craft that exercises an un-named muscle; on one hand it is a metaphysical activity, on the other, a simple craft, a pre-lingual activity, slowly changed. Thinking about painting in these larger terms allow me to disregard the usual pitfalls of style, subject or set-ways of working, instead I explore a fractal painting space.

The first group of 8 paintings in this presentation is a selection from a larger series of 40 works, all 16 x 20 inches, oil on linen. Each painting is of a detail, derived from larger paintings I’ve previously made. These ‘detail paintings’ where made as gifts intended for people who have played significant roles in my life, the images and subjects depicted correspond loosely and variously to each individual. The revisiting and re-imaging of previous paintings, made years earlier, calls to taking inventory and the reflective nature suggest a kind of quiet retrospective.

I have included 2 paintings from a larger experiment with Plein Air painting. These were painted on site in a forest in Upstate New York in January of 2010. The project is a kind of endurance sport, exercising all the physical aspects of painting. The frozen environment affected the process greatly, causing a more performative and gestural painting. The double landscape depicted may formally resemble a study in academic painting, though their large scale, 4 x 6 feet, is more typical of work realized in the studio. This process was a kind of physical endurance sport while exercising all the aspects of painting.

The next group of 4 painting are companions, they are disparate looking works tied together through process. “Portrait of Talia on the couch with Lilly” portrays the artist Talia Chetrit reclining at home. The surrounding artwork and personal items act as an extension of her portrait, while the scene refers to well known historical paintings. The image source for the painting is photographic, which is visible in the cats still gaze, as well as the shadow behind the lamp, which points to the images actual light source, a single strobe situated behind the camera.

“Painting of Talia in the Studio” documents a moment of mid-production in the studio, a still depiction of the activity of painting. The original source image for “Portrait of Talia with Lilly on the Couch” is projected over the entire studio wall, blanketing the unfinished painting and creating a doubled image. The projector creates the light source for the image, which confuses the relations between objects. In these two paintings the light source becomes a focal point, signaling back to the painter, the activity of painting and relationship to the viewer.

“Abstract Lamp,” a smaller, seemingly unrelated work connects through a physical depiction of process. This painting was made by using a blank canvas as the pallet to mix paint used for the lamp in “Portrait of Talia with Lilly on the Couch.” As the lamp was finished the remaining paint was spread across the canvas to create an abstract painting. This is also the process used in “Source of ‘Painting of Talia in the Studio’ / Arrangement of flowers,” but instead of focusing on one object of the source painting, this canvas is the site where all the paint for the companion painting was mixed. The top layer of paint is the record of the last applied colors.

Finally, I have included a group of past works. Starting with “Portrait of Benjamin Franklin,” a breakthrough piece for me, which initiated and continues to activate all the work I’ve made since. Through all the paintings presented, I investigate the language and value of painting itself in relationship to labor and process.