This series treats painting as a form of detective work. It searches for evidence to cross-examine perception, value systems, and painting itself. In this framework, painting becomes a kind of forensic language that uses close looking to facilitate debate and pursue truth.
I use oil, graphite powder, and cold wax to depict everyday objects. To me, these materials combine painting, drawing, and sculpture; furthermore, this echoes my interest in the relationship between the real, the imaginary, and the symbolic. Cold wax gives the surface a tactile, sculptural quality while sealing the painting; graphite functions as a material for drawing and writing and as an investigative tool.
The painting process draws my attention to deeper implications behind unremarkable elements of our environment. For example, I paint a dented trash can, school desks, and a parking meter. I see these objects as silent witnesses, testifying to the circulation of materials, time passing, and lessons learned, forgotten, and neglected. Translating the objects into a painted surface provides the opportunity to scrutinize their forms as well as the formation of oneself and present conditions.
I am ultimately concerned with the ethical dimensions of looking and an examination of how one attends to the world. Rejecting closure, I present each painting as an open case. The paintings suspend the visible world as evidence awaiting interpretation.