Glitches
Using traditional painting techniques but relying on heavily manipulated digital image files as reference material, I explore the struggles of relationships in the social media age, and the complicated connections between our digital and real world lives.
The algorithms that run so much of our lives have a hard time understanding us, just as we have a hard time understanding each other. They operate with the biases of their creators. They tend towards simple solutions when situations demand nuance. They have a hard time with unexpected, or new information. The problems of the machines we have created parallel our own.
To create the montages used for these paintings, people are invited into the studio to collaborate on the creation of series of short video clips that will be layered together into the montages. These videos are digitally broken using a variety of techniques that result in a video that is still playable but will visually degrade and glitch in unpredictable and interesting ways. For instance, to create the image used for the painting, “Glitch Caused By The Word No,” an audio file containing the model speaking the word “no” is cut into the video montage as if it was a piece of video. This creates a momentary disruption in the video playback and the most impactful frames are used as reference material for the paintings.
The montages begin as straightforward portrayals of moments that range from tenderness and love, to struggle and conflict. The images created when these videos of simple human moments are misinterpreted by the playback algorithms are often violent and chaotic, mirroring the pain caused by our own mistakes and misunderstandings.
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Prices generally $3 per sqare inch. Smaller vesions available upon request.
Portrait After Data Loss
Two Panels, 24″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Portrait Glitch
24?” x 36″ – oil on panel
Degrading Outcomes Glitch
Two panels, each 36″ x 60″ – oil on panel
Glitch Caused By The Word No
59″ x 39″ – oil on panel
Disappointment Glitch
36″ x 22″ – oil on panel
Turmoil Glitch
Three panels, 96″ x 48″ total – oil on panel
Study For Degrading Outcomes
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message
This series focuses on the disconnect between our digital, and real world lives. Since more and more of our time is spent interacting online, and our photographs are no longer constrained to a single copy, our images are increasingly subject to misuse by anonymous strangers. This is especially true for young women, who often find their most private digital moments taking on a life of their own.
To create these paintings, I asked volunteers to photograph themselves, to create a sexy image that felt like it was only intended for a significant other to see. Once I receive the image, I crop it so that their face is hidden; so their identity is lost, and the sexual nature of the photograph takes center stage. Next the image file source code is corrupted. For me, the resulting image glitch signifies the end of the useful life of this image. The point where an image that has been shared would no longer be forwarded along again. This version of the image is used as reference for the first panel of the painting.
Once I have started working on this panel, the model is asked to visit the studio to sit for a more traditional portrait, exposing her face and allowing her to reclaim ownership of the image of her body.
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Prices generally $3 per sqare inch. Smaller vesions available upon request.
Private Message #1
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message #2
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message #3
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message #4
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message #5
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message #6
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Private Message #7
Two panels, each 30″ x 40″ – oil on panel
Dandelions
The sight of dandelions springing up around my neighborhood, bright yellow against carpets of green grass, evokes such a comforting feeling of nostalgia. A perfectly manicured lawn advises you to keep off. One erupting with dandelions offers a warm welcome. Yet for most people, they are a nuisance, a sign that someone has lost control of their land.
Dandelions are not too different, and no less charming, than a sunflower or chrysanthemum yet, instead of celebrating their beauty, we set out to eradicate them. Compulsions fueling a multi billion-dollar industry. Look inside any hardware store and you will find isles of products dedicated to eliminating them.
Despite our best efforts to stop them, dandelions continue to thrive. Martyrs to our collective obsession with purity and control.
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Prices generally $3 per sqare inch. Smaller vesions available upon request.
Dandelions #4
24″ x 50″ – oil on panel
Neighbors
54″ x 24″ – oil on panel
Dandelions #3
Three panels, 64”x30” total – oil on panel
Dandelions #2
Two Panels, each 60”x24” – oil on panel
Dandelions #1
Two panels, each 26”x32” – oil on panel
Christine #3
72″x36″ – oil on board
Suburban Dream?
60″x48″ – oil on panel
Christine Sunbathing #1
32”x80” – oil on board
Christine Sunbathing #2
72”x32” – oil on board
Portraits
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Prices generally $3 per sqare inch. Smaller vesions available upon request.
Portrait of Anna Rae
24″ x 32″ – oil on panel
Portrait With Dandelion
oil on panel
Portrait of a Quiet Man in a Loud Shirt
oil on panel
Family Portrait
36″ x 18″ – oil on panel
Untitled
84″x60″ – oil on canvas
Portrait of Cathy
24″x24″ – oil on panel
Portrait of Matthew Cherry
Margaux With Morning Hair
oil on board, 48″x48″
Study of Kellen’s Freckles
48”x48” – oil on board
Bored Nude
48”x48” – Oil on Board
Sad Stephanie
Oil on board, 24″x24″
Relationship Studies
For these paintings, my focus is on the people around me: how they interrelate, how they portray themselves, and often times, how they make me feel. For this reason, I choose everyday people from my life as models, although the rolls they play are not necessarily their own. Equal attention is given to long relationships and fleeting glances; actual experiences are treated the same as invented encounters. The images are my memories – real or imagined – of these subjects and their relationships.
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Prices generally $3 per sqare inch. Smaller vesions available upon request.
And I Realize, Most of My Wounds Are Self Inflicted
Oil on Board – 36″x58″
Relationship Study #1
2 panels; each 48″x36″ – oil on canvas
Relationship Study #2
2 panels; each 66″x36″
Transformations
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Prices generally $3 per sqare inch. Smaller vesions available upon request.
Cover Up
48”x48” – oil on board
Amanda’s Lips
oil on board, 48″x48″
Mirrors Eye View
48”x48” – oil on board
Transformation #3
Transformation #2
Transformation #1
Mascara
Prints, Studies, One Offs, and Older Work
Pieces that don't fit into any other category.
Previews are cropped, click on any image for full view.
Portrait From Web Screen Print
9″x11″ – 4 color screen print on paper
Private Message Study #2
Two Panels, each 100cm X 75cm – Oil on birch panel
Portrait From Web Study
Relationship Study
44”x58” – oil on board
Be Right Down
Oil paint into Screen Print
A Moment Like Any Other
But, How did I get to.. Now?
Oil on canvas – 48?x48?
Hello, I Noticed…
oil on board, 24×24