Inside / Outside
I have been exploring this simple hole pattern for over twenty years. I stumbled on it in reaction to something another artist said. An off-hand comment, that has stuck and remained of interest to me.
These patterns reveal spaces that are both internal and external, depending on your perspective. One could either be getting in or out. They reveal interior worlds, or peer out in to the next one.
The patterns bounce, and fail, and reveal weaknesses. They delight with joy and silliness. Inspired by Keith Haring, no doubt.
"Hand drawn patterns interest me as they break down and fail, unlike a machine made pattern. In those moments interesting spaces open up, and we learn something about ourselves."
20 x 20 inches. Dyed paper, screen print + spray paint
96 x 60 inches. Paper + spray paintBrick Walls
12 canvas panels, 9 x 12 inches. Ink, acrylic + spray paintYou are walking parallel to a long brick wall. Up ahead you can see that the wall is coming to an end. It is not possible to imagine, much less see, what is around that corner.
Lunch Patterns
23 x 30 inches. Ink on paperI take the subway into San Francisco each morning. It is packed with people staring down into their pocket computers. Getting off in the financial district, commuters stream by anonymously. Everyone is on their way–somewhere.
These drawings start off as sketches made of the brick pattern in a public square on my lunch break. They are meditations on form, yes, created by unknown craftspeople. Deceptively simple, yet more complex once upon examination.
The process of drawing is a search for connection, in a place that seems so strictly functional, even cruel at times. In the square corner spot are the sick junkies panhandling for their first day's fix, as workers in stiff flannel suits with $20 lunches in their hands stride by quickly. Diseased pigeons hobble around between all the shiny leather-clad feet, pecking for crumbs, as faceless sleek electric vehicles slide by noiselessly.
In my drawings, I let the patterns break down. They are not made by perfect machines, rather another failable human. As the lines and pattern bleed off the edge, they replicate out in their imperfections, ad infinitum.
Quilt Blocks
Ink and acrylic on paperMy first exposure to making art with community was a quilting group that my mother, aunt, and some neighbors belonged to. This group of women would gather and collaborate on each other's ideas, laboring to create elaborate hand sewn quilts. These paper quilts explore those memories and shapes.
Collage
8 x 10 inch panels. Screen print + spray paint