I paint from live observation, using my face as a motif through which to explore lighting situations and cropping.
Some paintings involve props such as a marble, pearls, or corn syrup. In others, I overlay and synthesize multiple views of the face to create unsettling new forms, like an eye within a mouth. The scarcity of negative space in these small compositions produces a tight, claustrophobic feeling. At the same time, the paintings are warm and intensely intimate, often highlighting sensually charged areas like the mouth.
As much as they are private and contemplative, the paintings are also performative and emotionally fraught. They both self-consciously offer themselves up and yet remain reticent and riddling.
Doubled Self 8 (Up / Down), oil on canvas, 8” x 6”, 2022
Marble 3, 3” x 3”, oil on canvas, 2022 (NFS)
Corn Syrup Tear, 3” x 3”, oil on canvas, 2022 (NFS)
Eyelid Pull, oil on canvas, 4” x 6”, 2022
Doubled Self 10 (Down / Up), oil on canvas, 6” x 4”, 2022
Doubled Self 9 (Two Right Eyes), oil on canvas, 5” x 7”, 2022 (currently viewable in the back room at The Shirley Project Space)
Application (Quarter Face Red), oil on canvas, 6” x 8”, 2022
Marble 2, oil on canvas, 7” x 5”, 2022
Doubled Self 7 (Self Portrait with Chest), oil on canvas, 5” x 7”, 2022
Yellow Flower / Black Lace, oil on canvas, 8” x 6”, 2022
Doubled Self 6 (Eyeliner Mustache), oil on canvas, 4” x 6”, 2022
Pearly Whites 2, 5” x 7”, oil on canvas, 2022
Skull Eyes 2 (Doubled Self 5), oil on canvas, 8” x 6”, 2022
Skull Eyes 1, oil on canvas, 5” x 7”, 2022
Doubled Self 4 (Two Mouths and Two Ears), oil on canvas, 5” x 7”, 2022
Doubled Self 3 (Four Eyes with Rhinestones), oil on canvas, 4” x 6”, 2022 (private collection)
Doubled Self 2 (Eye / Mouth), oil on canvas, 4” x 6” 2022
Doubled Self 1, oil on canvas, 8” x 6” 2022
Thank you to Wildacres Retreat for the time and space to develop this project.