Step into the unknowing

What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
I just completed a solo exhibition at Julie Nester in Park City UT, titled Gravity. The show includes 20 works, mostly large scale, including one piece measuring 7 x 13 feet (213 x 396 cm) and another at 11 x 6.5 feet (335 x 198 cm). The exhibition is up through February 17. I am now shifting focus to a commission piece and beginning several new paintings.

What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on them?
There was significant pressure to produce such a large body of work on a shipping deadline, with some pieces still drying as they left the studio. It required a lot of discipline and trust in my process. Through this period, the work developed more strongly toward a graphic language, with circles appearing across many of the paintings in a way that felt both inevitable and revealing.

What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?
The work reflects a sense of time and space. The beginning, textured atmospheric background layers represent time before time, or an unseen dimension. As layers accumulate, they move toward the progression of time, with the final shapes and marks representing the present moment. The recurring circle began to feel like the laws of gravity made visible, lunar and planetary weight pressing on us, and on me. These ideas are closely tied to my very active dream life. The paintings feel like emotional representations of my dreams.

Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?
I often listen to cinematic soundtracks while painting, but my current favorite artist to work to is Art School Girlfriend. I can’t get enough of her music, it has been a constant presence in the studio.

What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?
Meeting the solo show deadline while simultaneously taking on a new 3,000 square foot studio. Balancing the creative demands with the financial and logistical realities of the art world has been a real stretch, but also an important step forward.

What's your favourite restaurant and why do you like going there?
Sushi Ran, where my studio is located in Sausalito, CA (USA). The miso glazed black cod is incredible, and I’m a big fan of the various hamachi dishes.

If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?
Something like Step Into the Unknowing, with the soundtrack by Art School Girlfriend.

Which studios, laboratories, or workshops have you collaborated with recently or would you like to collaborate with in the future?
I run destination workshops around the US in places like New Orleans, San Diego, Telluride, Santa Fe, and San Luis Obispo, as well as internationally in Mallorca, Spain. Lately I’ve been focusing on workshops in my new studio, with sessions coming up in March and May, and a destination workshop in San Luis Obispo this June.