My current paintings start from photographs I take while walking the streets of the Bay Area, where I live. The snapshots capture an anonymous glance or gesture. I am particularly interested in the way light travels across the figure.

 

The figures are rendered using a bold palette that, much like my southern accent, I could probably never abandon, even if I wanted to. I understand the figures as blocks of observed and invented color, with acute linear qualities and value structures. I move the colors across the surface, excited with the way they fit into positive and negative spaces. I often repaint lines to keep edges bold and sharply contrasting. The microcosm of the painting is very important to me; after a work is initially viewed at a distance, I want the viewer to gain an additional layer of information upon closer inspection.

 

The collage elements are another obsession I can’t relinquish. I hoard bits of brightly colored paper, waiting for the perfect little space to squeeze them into. The seemingly mundane collage elements: receipts from parking meters, food wrappers, mirror the everyday element of folks just standing in line or walking down the street.

 

I am interested in a new way of seeing the figure. I am influenced by the Bay Area Figurative movement of the mid-20^th century, but try to push the imagery with people who look contemporary and collage elements that reflect the present. I constantly strive for dynamic compositions, active surfaces, and intense color combinations. The figure will continue to be the most satisfying subject for me to paint.