Art Process
For me art is about looking out into the world and finding things that interest me both visually and emotionally and doing drawings that react to that specific thing.
The other day I had occasion to go to the social security office. Waiting for my turn to see the person behind the window I spent my time looking at the other people. They like me, have no power, no options, the bureaucracy has everyone under its thumb, white, black, young, old, poor and not so poor. Everyone sits still, trying to maintain some semblance of dignity. A difficult feat when you're reduced to a number and subsequently told that the numbers may be called out of order. Who are the heroes, who were beat up by the system, who were beat up before they arrived. It is hard to believe in this situation that the government works for us. I have noticed that over the years that it doesn't matter in the slightest which president has his picture on the wall.
In my work, I also wait, except while doing so, I make pastel drawings of the other people waiting. Today I am drawing the shy man with the red shirt, quiet and insecure, he manages to sit patiently, maybe for him there is nowhere else better to go. I think that in any group there are those that we empathize with, those we feel a bond with, maybe they reflect ourselves or some part of ourselves or maybe they provide a voice to our insecurities, to our vulnerabilities what I believe is our shared humanity. In short, I draw people I like.
The pastels I do are expressive reactions to particular visual experiences. They are not contemplative, but reactive, almost stream of consciousness creations done quickly in the moment, an art of experiences. From the many pastels I make, I then choose some to transform into big oil paintings. The paintings directly reference the particular pastel, but in order to understand the pastel on a conscious level I make lots of pencil drawings from it. These drawings allow me to see and understand all the bits of the pastel as well as understand the expressive liberties taken in it. This understanding helps the final painting proceed with knowledge and freedom. The painting like the initial pastels returns to an almost as a stream of consciousness process, as an expression not just a referential reaction
For and Interview about the pastels go to https://youtu.be/7kEg4HzHLMg