Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Artist Statement

My work grew out of a desire to abandon the fetish object and embark on a journey into geometric abstraction. I began with a desire to pair the disparate elements of intellectual (sometimes pretentious) modernist abstraction with the perceived low brow ignorance of commercial painting and construction. I set up a number of contradictions including, but not limited to, painting without paint, high brow and low brow, intelligence and ignorance. 

Within these contradictions I noticed a correlation between rationality and biological mechanisms. It is within human nature to impose our will upon the world. In doing so, we build monuments and cities that show our greatness. However the greatness being shown is actually just a division of labor. It is the working class and the poor who are supporting those few at the top. So the intelligent, educated and intellectual class structure use the more "primitive" working class to do their bidding. 

The system is set up to keep the rich rich and poor poor. I find myself between the two. I come from working class, poor family. We are fairly uneducated. I am one of a few in my entire extending family to go to college. I have been given the opportunity to get a MFA. I feel an overwhelming amount of guilt that I get an attempt to intellectualize myself and change my social status, while my family remain where they have always been. It sets up an internal conflict that I struggle with on an hourly basis.

My work reflects those roots. Pairing the construct with the intellect. The cube represents a utopian ideal. In the Renaissance, linear perspective was the most logical and rational form to organize a painting. In my pieces, I set up illogical associations with deliberately out-of-perspective cube. Warping the the sense of Platonic Idealism that exists with the reality of how things are. These structures appeal to rational sense of organization while also triggering this biological need to feel uncomfortable. The viewer should feel uneasy. They have an internal conflict to intellectualize what the work is about or to avoid it because of the fear that the object may fall upon them.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Hair defines the man...infant stages

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hitler study
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jeremy study
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jesus study
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selleck study
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waters study

these are step one in a super secret project to be complete soon. more pictures up in the next week

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Studio

at what point does an artist ask themself, "how the hell did you let your studio space get this way?".

after all there have been countless essays and books written about how the modernist gallery space was set up to resemble the artist studio.

well i'm sorry we can't all be as anal as mondrian.

so fuck off, and stop trying to make me clean my humble abode

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Zombi


i absolutely love the idea of society collapsing upon itself. one day i hope it will happen. 

i'm obsessed with apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic civilizations, i.e. zombie films. zombies encompass a number of metaphors such as the history of consuming flesh, conspicuous consumption, war, new world orders, biological warfare, gore, the list goes on...

most importantly the zombie film pairs two disparate elements. zombies are post-modern. they differ from slasher films because they make us critique society. zombie films pair the biological mechanism of fear with that of a logical analysis for the films meaning.

so, with that....

zombie painting, 2009, 27 x 20 inches, mixed media


















Sunday, March 22, 2009

De-evolution Series



i have always been obsessed with the apocalypse and post-apocalyptic societies. humans as a species are de-evolving. these are a series old paintings, influenced by basquiat, alcohol and the contemporary state of visual culture. 

de-evolution is upon us.
Untitled (x-ray specs)
mixed media
20 x 27 inches













untitled (deliverance)
mixed media
27 x 20 inches

















untitled (chinese takeout)
mixed media
27 x 20 inches














these paintings are from a series of mixed media explorations. 

Friday, March 20, 2009

untitled
2008
11" x 17"
acrylic on panel



Thursday, March 19, 2009


so, i'm giving this blog thing a shot. i thought i would start with a quick snapshot of my studio. this photo pertains to my work space. in the pic, i have one of my current pieces i am working on. it is a wormhole.

my current work is involved in the struggle between the ideal/rational and reality/biological. perspective is a loaded concept that extends back to the rational paintings of the renaissance. perspective and the cube both represent the ideal and utopia. i am contorting these idea with both gravity and perception. 

the work is in progress, but i thought this would be a decent introduction into the blog-o-sphere

later,
david