Edges/Playing with Fire

We live in an era flooded with information, yet the sheer volume often hinders our ability to process it all and extract meaning. In our contemporary pursuit of knowledge, there is just too much noise and not enough clarity.

My recent series of trompe l’oeil paintings explores this concept through stacked books viewed from above. The cropped edges of each book hint at partial knowledge and form flat abstracted planes of color and partial pieces of text, evoking the challenge of making sense of fragmented ideas.

My most recent works also investigate the dangers of banning books and the threat censorship poses to intellectual freedom. Each painting focuses specifically on books challenged for addressing themes like gender identity, race, the occult, or even the 1950s moral panic about comic books which resulted in the Comics Code Authority. These works serve as a reminder of how essential open access is to free expression and a civil and informed society.
​
Inspired by the abstractions of Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann, as well as William Harnett’s illusionistic trompe l’oeil paintings, I aim to balance naturalism and abstraction. Through this approach, I explore how information overload—and censorship—can obscure truth and stifle the pursuit of wisdom.

"Mashup"
trompe-l'œil  paintings

In my paintings, I explore the idea of remixed culture by creating “mash-ups” of art historical references, genres, and techniques as metaphors for personal and social commentary.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.  The codes and anagrams hidden in my work add layers of inquiry about our beliefs and the fragile systems upon which they rest.  These works ask questions that do not necessarily have answers.

explorations

My trompe-l'œil paintings take about a year each to create.  In the gaps, these works, some paintings, installations, and digital works are explorations of ideas that run throughout my all my work.  Illusion vs. reality, deconstructions of art history, and the influence of digital media in a post-Internet culture.

decodeRVA

Richmond's identity can be an enigma. The city's past, present and future coexist and collide.  This exciting collaborative and interactive art exhibition, called “#decodeRVA", encouraged the public to literally, "Get a clue.  Decode. Find the key and unlock your Richmond." Via coded artwork, a website,  and hidden clues, husband and wife team, Jeff and Colleen Hall, designed an exhibition where viewers are encouraged to get out and explore the city.   Armed with the clues hidden within the artwork, views can literally discover the city as they search for a key and ultimately unlock and reveal a locked painting.

www.decodeRVA.com

archive

These older work explore my evolution from an mixed media artist to my current trompe-l'œil paintings.  These works also demonstrate an ongoing fascinations with the line between realism and abstraction.