"Mashup" Series

In my latest paintings, I have begun to explore the idea of remixed culture by creating “mash-ups” of art historical references, genres, and techniques as metaphors for personal and social commentary.  By combining various elements, a visual alchemy occurs that creates a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.  These frenetic works are the chaos that is my life; loose strings of relationships, fragments of ideas, all barely held together by humble materials.  These are the history of me working out an idea, and like life, they can be overwhelming from a distance as well as in the details.

My paintings explore equally remixed ideas of faith, the creative process, family relationships, and politics.  Fie Soli God and Melancholia address my personal struggles with the sudden loss of my brother and my concurrent loss of faith.  The codes and anagrams hidden in these works add additional layers of inquiry about our beliefs and the fragile systems upon which they rest.  Like faith, these works ask questions that do not necessarily have answers.  The work itself is a tenuous web of ideas and false starts whose lack of unity and resolution reflect my ongoing search for meaning.

In Clash I intended to show the political polarization of our contemporary culture.  I found the opposing views of Delacroix and Ingres to be a parallel to the present lack of civil discourse.  By superimposing contours of Le Grande Odalisque and Liberty Leading the People with clashing patterns and textures, I feel I have created a resulting visual discord that captures the mood of today.
Naturalism versus abstraction, high versus low, real versus illusion, visible versus hidden;   these juxtapositions are ongoing themes in my work.   These layers of meanings are repeated in the layers of painted objects.  Scraps of thoughts, riddles hidden in plain sight, obsessive pursuit of the unknown.  Beyond the ah-ha moment when you appreciate the illusion of these paintings, there lies an awareness of the struggle to find new meaning in the collision of old ideas.  Like the alchemist, I continue to pursue the elusive.

Fie Soli God oil on panel 48" x 48" 2012