Monday, February 12, 2007

Objects grown/Object manufactured:






18"x24" (graphite on paper) 2007

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Some new work:





"towers" oil on cardboard, 8x12"


This one is still in the works, it's another in the towers series.



"towers 2 (unfinished, i'll post the finished piece when it's done.)" oil on wood, 32x40"





"powerlines" oil on canvas, 12x16"







"id:superego" oil on wood panel, 6x20"

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Friday, December 15, 2006

"I certainly don’t choose the story first, but my interests take me to the story I think. And then I research, I read, and then that sort of influences the creative process at a later date. But it's never that I want to illustrate a story through a sculpture. But more that somehow these stories are in all of us. So they just come out. There's something about my process that makes them come out. These stories are there to explain our lives to us, I think. And that's all I'm trying to do—is understand my life by making these objects. So it's not surprising." --Janine Antoni

Monday, December 04, 2006

For me, art making is an investigation. I approach it with great curiosity, courage, and vigor. Unlike the scientist or the researcher who seeks concrete answers to benefit the greater good, I am seeking a highly subjective truth to quiet my own psychological demands. I want to share my work, I want it to benefit the world I live in, I want to make things of beauty and importance, of relevance, I strive for public response and understanding, I yearn to make great and profound statements, but it is ultimately my own catharsis that drives me to create. I look at art, I analyze it, I break it down and this informs my own process. There is no right or wrong, just my subjective understanding of the problem.
Issues relating to the human experience compel me and provide sources for my inspiration. Memory, childhood, nostalgia, the effect of technology on the human psyche, urbanization, overpopulation, personal relationships, these are things I want to investigate for my own understanding. Through exploration of a source or subject, I may produce work that will provide insight into these complex issues that affect our modern lives.
I do not want to be limited by a medium. Rather, I start with a source and seek out a medium with which I may translate and develop it visually. The development of my concept will inform which medium I choose. As aesthetics and conceptual content vary, so do the vehicles, or materials, that express them. My objective is to communicate efficiently, to make informed and conscious choices in my work while relying on intuition to guide my investigation.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Wednesday, November 22, 2006


Final Portfolio Project




In my third installment of this semester's portfolio course, I would like to explore the urban landscape through photography and drawings. I have already begun shooting in NYC, I love the architecture there. The ambling rooftops especially intrigue me. Formally speaking, I want to really hone my technical drawing skills in terms of proportion, perspective and value. In addition, I really want to focus on composition and composing interesting and balanced pieces. This is a subject that I have always had a strong response to visually and believe that I can capture what it is that fascinates me by doing this project. I plan on doing drawings from life rather than from my photographs. But if I find one photo that I think would look better translated into drawing, I will not limit myself to this rule. I will have a series of at least six pieces but no more than ten, that share a common aesthetic or theme that I intend to make evident to the viewer. I also intend to imbue them with some deeper expressive content , but at this point I am starting with a subject and not a concept so I expect the aforementioned content will reveal itself as I dig deeper into my work. In sum, my objectives are to improve technical and observational drawing skills, compose the pieces in a thoughtful and conscious way, and to present my viewer with a new perspective on a familiar subject.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Whew! So I've been working on my video for this phase quite a bit. I'm definitely learning as i go with this one. I'm starting to catch on to the shortcuts and the ins and outs of this application, and I must say I REALLY like video. Fun stuff! It's quite exciting to take advantage of different medias in order to translate my ideas and concepts into tangible work. I just don't find it possible, for me anyway, to express certain aesthetics through my painting.
I have found that there are two schools of art-making. There are those who just go, who start from scratch and just create whatever passes through them. Then there are those who start with a small seed of inspiration; a thought, a memory, an emotion, some social or poitical event. This is then reflected upon, reacted to, even researched and then the physical art-making process begins there, after much deliberation. I belong to the latter school. I have nothing against the first method, but I personally find that having an understanding of what it is that one is trying to convey not only informs the work but gives it a great depth of beauty and meaning. I believe it is our jobs as artists to be teachers as well as the makers of beautiful things. Without some form of conceptual content or evident intent the piece is just "stuff." I don't expect everyone to agree with me on this one, but it's just my own take. I like my work to be fueled by my brain as well as by my soul.
But I digress. I guess I am just excited by using various media previously unknown to me. Some are more effective than others in expressing certain aesthetics. Broadening my ability and knowledge of these media will strengthen and diversify my work.

Monday, October 23, 2006




Here are a few images I took. With Gulliver's Travels as a jumping off point, i got interested in playing with scale. My first few pictures were inspired by "The Land of the Giants" when Gulliver is so small he can fit in one of their breast pockets. Then, I switched gears and took photos from the perspective of Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. I ultimately focused on issues of scale, distance, and solitude. I also became interested in the cropping of the image; making decisions about what to include or exclude. Enjoy.

Sunday, October 22, 2006







Here are some more images from the Under Cover exhibit. The first few are Singer Sargeant, followed by more skylines by Grosz.

I managed to catch the Under Cover: Artist's Sketchbooks exhibition at the Fogg museum before it closed up shop on the 22nd of October. I was especially taken with the work of George Grosz and John Singer Sargeant. I have always been a fan of Singer Sargeant but Grosz was an artist I was not yet familiar with. His sketches of the Manhattan skyline rang clear and true to me. They seemed so effortlessly and expertly rendered. The deftness of his marks resonated within me. I thought to myself, "I want to do that. I CAN do that."

Seeing the artists' sketchbooks was a wonderful experience. It feels infinitely more intimate to be able to see these private journals like this, even though they are behind glass. You can witness the development of ideas, their thought processes much clearer and evident than in one of their masterful paintings. One can also identify more with these drawings. They are so small, the materials so familiar. You can feel closer to the artist via these miniature works in graphite, ink, or watercolor.
I loved seeing Singer Sargeants sketchbooks. For me, this was truly a privelage. I have always been awestruck by his work. His monumental paintings, his ethereal and celestial frescos in the MFA and Boston Public Library have always held me in rapt, silent awe. To see this master's work scaled down to such a small size evoked a giddiness in me. I felt like I had a VIP pass, like I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to. After years of thinking of him as some sort of demi-god of painting, I was thrilled to see the "behind the scenes" of all of his huge works. Technically speaking, he was beyond capable. His ability to render the human figure with such an economy of line and value is astonishing. He can create the most beautiful, languid, organic forms with what appears to be surgical precision. I am so pleased I was lucky enough to catch this exhibit before it was gone.