Painting
Born in 1975, I grew up spending summers at my grandfather’s ranch outside of Yerington, Nevada. It was there, I believe, that I first remember being aware and moved by art. Hung throughout the rooms of the ranch house were my great grandmother’s oil paintings. Beautiful, quiet landscapes of the Eastern Sierras.
In 2001 I settled in Oakland California, and with little instruction, I began to paint.
Current Body of Work
I don’t tend to like artist statements. I’m of the mind that they don’t add much to the conversation that can't be better told than through the work itself. I have no grand vision or purpose to declare. It's simple, just love to paint. What I can talk about is the circumstances that surround a painting – or how my current body of work has come to pass.
Looking back, my approach and process towards painting and graphic design have always been separate, independent paths, most likely driven by the framework and constraints of their distinct mediums. Painting has always been an impressionistic exercise for me – loose brushstrokes and impulsive marks that build over time. Layers of color and texture that lead toward a certain emotional climate. A space of free expression, to "color outside the lines" if you will, uninhibited by the exacting nature that governs much of my design work.
On the other hand, my design work tends to be very minimal, geometric and exact –inspired by the stark contrast of a black and white photo, the shape of a letterform, or the linear repetition of a pattern. Over time, those two spheres of thought, once separate in my head, have begun to overlap. My current body of artwork is a reflection of that point of intersection.