Recipient of the Wayne Conduit Memorial Award.
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When people ask, I say I paint pictures of vases. These paintings have been drawn from particularly endearing eBay listings of ‘fat lava’ pottery. Digital images have become so ubiquitous that we can read their language at a glance. Beyond the flash and the awkward framing, there is an indescribable sense that this sight has already been translated, sent through a lens and a set of codes and into this. In the divine light of the camera flash, a moment is preserved forever.
My work seeks to intensify this moment. In the stillness of the image, in the presence of the object, I hope the painting feels transcendental. Enter into its atmosphere, its time zone. Become close. These vases are full of personal and social history—as is the digital image—as is eBay—as is paint. Not that you can read that all at once, or that it’s spelled out particularly clearly. But I hope you and the painting can come to a sort of mutual understanding. I hope it can return your gaze.
