Where is the cream filling
Some things are rammed down our throats. The Twinkie should be the new symbol for opulence; something so useless it must be considered a luxury. We are raised to look up to products like this, to beg our parents for them, to cry, kick and scream when we don't get them. Twinkies is painted in a way to represent the snack as an idol, a golden statue of the American ideal. The fast-fleeting American ideal.
Twinkies. 30x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
The importance of the color red
The deep blues and purples absorb so much attention that the everything gets swallowed. The red was designed to offset that and bring some of the purple out. I leave it to you.
Blue. 40x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
No one can escape
Well, not anymore. We are at the constant whim of everyone around us. We hide our break downs and we hide our failures. Even the most invincible of us can have these moments, but we don't see this anymore because we only share success. Our lives are so focused on perfect people that we lose sight that every coin has two sides.
Anxiety. 30x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
She was pregnant, and you gunned her down
You can have all the power in the world. You can stop time, break down matter and see the future. You can also decide to let your partner shoot the woman who is pregnant with his child. This was the first image that really had me thinking about what we see, and the impact an individual image can have on context. Dr. Manhattan, the blue guy (Watchmen) fails at trying to talk his partner from shooting someone, an event he could have stopped just by thinking it.
Losing Touch. 30x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Alrighty then!
In one of his first gigs, Jim Carrey was filmed predicting his rise to fame. In the skit he tells everyone how big he is going to be. I grew up watching Jim Carrey and because of that I had a special connection with him, so I wanted to turn that concept into a piece of art. I was hoping he would take it. During the show, he wore a sweater with a very similar color scheme to this work. Still yours Jim...if you want it.
Forecast. 40x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
What color is tragedy?
Guernica was a game changer. For those not familiar, the original painting Guernica is a very emotional painting of a town being bombed, painted by Picasso. I boiled Guernica down to the colors, I wanted to know if I would feel the pain of Picasso's original. The colors still don't sit well with me.
Guernica. 40x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
The thing from the black lagoon
A few thousand brush strokes will make you wonder a lot about your life, and what you are looking at. Maybe that's why I called it Gloom.
Gloom. 40x70 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Have your cake
I love you. Hug me. Like those candy hearts you get for Valentines day, I was trying to strike a certain balance. This work is 50% paint and 50% clay. I believe that is also what those candies are made of.
Cake Factory. 30x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Inspired en Francais
Do you ever wonder what colors you associate with places? The colors I chose were just off primary. I spent some time in Paris absorbing as much of its art as I could. In particular, the work of Piet Mondrian. This led me in the direction of unwinding a piece of art, to see what can be accomplished by going backwards.
Paris. 40x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Cover up
As we have to exhibit our beauty, we drown in a feeling that we aren't good enough. Aren't good enough for what? It doesn't matter because we have make up to fix that. Drowning for the sake of profits, profits provided by insecurity.
Avon. 24x36 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Always death by diabetes
The original, or the classic. Diabetes kills 3.4 million people in America every year. So what do you see? On one level its just a drink, but on the other, the cause of serious health problems. For some, a very profitable business.
Tell Me. 24x36 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Are you paying attention
Not even our mentors can escape. Someone as pure as a Disney character has his bad days, or moments. I guess we do live in a Disney world, where all the apples are red and no one is allowed to get mad. The question is, what world do we want to live in? What world are we moving towards?
Miseducation. 30x40 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
