Laser-engraved ceramic tiles
4.25” square
Typewritten lettering and gouache on polypropylene sheet
Late 2019 - Early 2020
5” x 7”, 9” x 12”, and 11” x 14”
Monochrome laser-engravings on ceramic tile
4.25” square
Black and white latex paint on 3’ x 6’ stretched canvas, approximately 2.5” deep
February 2019
Typewriter and graphite on polypropylene sheet or watercolor paper
January 2020
5” x 7” or 9” x 12”
Latex, spray paint, and copper-plated nails on approximately 2’ x 2’ panel with 2.75” deep wooden frame
May 2019
This is the first large painting I've had the chance to make in a long while.
When I painted this canvas for the first time, something felt off. I wasn't sure what it was. Eventually, it occurred to me that my issue with the original painting (the lower images here) would be no different if it was 9 x 12 inches. The form was there, and the color, but the scale was not playing its part. It was a waste of what could be such an imposing piece of fabric.
The painting you see directly below depicts how Agodon looks today. I love the way this piece seems to change color and temperature depending on the light. Some days it's very blue. Others it's burning with orange throughout the center. Occasionally, it feels cool and crisp with old-copper-green.
Latex paint on 5' x 6' stretched canvas
September 2016
Not for sale
Graphite on polypropylene sheet
5” x 7”, 9” x 12”, or 11” x 14”
December 2019 - January 2020
Watercolor on paper
4” x 6” each
For Sale
Metallic paint, laser engraving on tile
4.25” or 6” square
Read more about the Aquilina series here
Ink & watercolor on paper
Two sizes, approximately 4.5" x 6" and 6" x 9" each
The blue wash beneath was an investigation in a technique I wanted to use on these wood panels. I wasn’t happy with how it turned out, so I set it aside to revisit another day. Today (5/27/2018) I found a new line of marks that I have really enjoyed so far, and decided to take another shot at this surface.
I like the way the harder geometry of the warm sections sits atop the fluid, organic background.
I’ve been thinking about Barnett Newman’s “zips” a lot lately, and I think I will be incorporating this take on them into man more paintings in the near future.
It was important to me that the fill in the rigid areas not completely stop the motion of the piece, and I am happy with how the swirling brushstrokes allow that freedom to carry through, even within the grid.
Latex paint and ink on 8” x 8” wood panel.
Sold.
Typewritten lettering and gouache on watercolor paper
Series started December 2019
5” x 7” and 6” x 9”
This weekend I found a set of marks that I think are going to make their way into a lot of my work moving forward.
I remember feeling like Barnett Newman’s “zips” were going to be important someday when I was first introduced to them, but I wasn’t ready to incorporate them directly at the time.
These sister paintings feel connected by opposition and paired by that thin, straight commonality stretching across their surfaces.
Latex paint on two 8” x 8” wood panels.
(Pictured centered between the two panels of Auden in the second image)
Latex paint and ink on 8” x 10” wood panel.
Created in response to the visual scores and experimental music of Anthony Braxton
Sixteen mirrors, eight of them painted. On each mirror, I started with a fast, lazy swipe of paint and paper towel, then carefully edged the results of the gesture in india ink.
Self playing instruments, many of them driven by DC motors spinning Chick-fil-A straws to strike and make noise
Speakers and batteries
An exercise in creating quite a din
I had so much fun with my first Tom Ontwerpt copy-cat piece that I decided to create another.
Written in Processing, the code I created basically sets up a grid of slightly randomized points, then connects them into irregular but convex (think pentagon vs star) quadrilaterals.
The next step is to break two sides opposite each other into 25 intervals and draw line segments from one side to the other.
I've been working on making the points drift around a bit and even changing the number of slices per quadrilateral slowly over time.
Digital, July 2017
Two lines race alongside one another, forming a third and thicker zip in the space between them, made of nothing.
Latex paint on 8” x 8” wood panel.
At first I was not sure which edge was the bottom of this painting.
When the blue is at the bottom, the piece feels still and quiet to me.
When it’s on the left, I think of shifting toward something less safe but overdue.
With the blue on top, the piece feels industrial to me, like the bottom of a wall looming in front of me.
When the blue is on the right, I’m not sure. I suppose it feels less about the two color fields and more about the bar of raw wood in that case.
Latex paint on 8” x 8” wood panel.
Painted as a mother's-day gift
Latex paint on two medium density fiberboard panels with french cleats on rear
3' x 4'
2015
What started as an abstract contour line drawing became a bit more tangible with the addition of some triangles and wet markers
To me this is a proud duck
Pens and marker on watercolor paper
April 2017
I have been keeping an eye on this beautiful tree as I hike through a local slice of the Chattahoochee National Forest Preserve
As it breaks down it seems to sort of melt into falling brushstrokes of brilliant rust-color contrasted by the soft, healthy green moss that has already taken root on top
The final photo on this page is the original; the others are the result of running that photo through neural networks with different famous paintings
Fall 2016
The first painting in this style that has come out the way I hoped it would :)
Feels floral to me
Watercolor on paper
4" x 6"
Watercolor and ink on paper
4” x 6”
For Sale
Mural project on the side of a reclaimed school in Detroit, MI as part of ELCA's 2015 Youth Gathering.
The bottom half was painted by dozens of young volunteers, while I painted the top half.
This was part of a much larger project involving around 40,000 volunteers over the course of a week, seeking to revive one of Detroit's most troubled neighborhoods.
Painting took place over the course of three days.
I was walking through an Atlanta mall one day when I stumbled on an art gallery situated squarely between two clothing stores. It felt out of place but I was really happy with what I saw inside
One of the paintings I saw was made of hundreds of "cells" of thick, glossy paint, candy-colored and smooth
This painting is my response
The three additional images are the results of running this painting through different neural networks with other works of art
Latex paint on 4' x 6' stretched canvas
February 2017
Recently, I was running in Tuscaloosa, AL when I found a series of Polaroid pictures scattered along the side of the road. I collected all that I could find and carried them for the rest of my run.
For the few weeks following that run, I have been thinking a lot about Polaroids and what makes them so special.
I think it's the combination of their recognizable color distortions and scale. They exist physically and in close relation to the scale of one's own palm.
The thinnish bar along the bottom either holds a snippet of handwriting or nothing at all. Neither case is neutral.
Moment or void.
At the same time, I've been thinking a lot about the work of an artist who goes online by the name of Ellen the Lemon.
My fascination with capturing the organic, the out-of-my-hands, and edging it in black always seems to pop back up.
In this series, I am investigating these thoughts side by side and taking it as a chance to work on a drastically more modest scale than I have been enjoying lately.
Watercolor and ink works on paper, ranging from 4.5" x 6" to 6" x 9"
An Arduino microcontroller paired with an ultrasonic proximity sensor reads the distance to the nearest object, which is used as input for a Processing program.
The Processing program uses the distance to the nearest object to determine where on the screen to draw a shifting orb. As the viewer approaches the work, the soft chords played by the controlling computer become louder and out of tune, pushing the viewer back.
Arduino, Processing, and Projector
March 2015
Hundreds of spectrograms generated by sounds including beatboxing, playing piano, driving with the windows down, and having a conversation
These pieces were displayed in a long strip at eye level
During the performance aspect of this piece, I used my voice and a few props to re-create the sound that had created selected spectrograms from around the room
2014
The room in which the installation took place was carefully manicured to feel sterile and to function somewhat in the same way as an abstract painting through use of simple rectangular forms and their proximity to one another.
Along the walls were pictures of the space with no viewers present, intended to amplify awareness of self as viewers become the key difference between the room in which they are standing and the photos on the walls.
To heighten this awareness of self, two computers sat facing one another with audio programs running on their screens. These computers were set up to stand idle when viewers moved and spoke softly, but to begin recording the sounds in the room and displaying the waveform of what their microphones picked up if noise levels breeched a certain threshold. This encouraged viewers to either move carefully through the already tense space or to be deliberately loud in contrast to it. In either case, the audio elements are meant to add a sense of intentionality to the actions of the viewers while in the space.
2015
Painting real "things" is not something I do often, but I find myself thinking about the American southwest a lot. I wanted a chance to capture a bit of the vastness I imagine to be out there, but couldn't stand to leave things too smooth
To me the sky feels a bit like frosting
Latex paint on 2' x 4' stretched canvas
October 2016
Logo concepts for a Michigan-based painting company
Latex paint, watercolor, and charcoal on paper
This piece fell victim to an exercise in chance, and is now six pieces
I preferred it when it looked like this
2014
Somewhere soft, between cookies and cream and rain streaks on a windowpane
Watercolor on paper
4" x 6"
I found an enormous book called A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union at a local thrift shop and decided to pick it up
Once in a while I will take a bit of paint or some markers to one of the pages for a bit of fun
2016
Typewritten lettering on various surfaces (polypropylene, watercolor paper, & tissue)
November - December 2019
5” x 7” or 6” x 9” each
After running a few of my paintings through neural networks and noticing that I liked certain qualities of the result even more than the original works, I decided to try painting with that as the starting point
This was my first attempt to incorporate some of the line-work and color features that I like from my neural network images into a painting from the start
Staying true to my interest in feedback loops, I then ran the painting through neural networks itself. I've pictured a few of my favorite results here as well
Latex paint on 6" x 9" stretched canvas
January 2017
Latex paint on 11.5" x 72.5" poplar board
For sale
8' x 8' paintings created for display in Coleman Colessium at the University of Alabama's Week of Welcome kickoff event
2015
At sixteen years old, this style is where I first began painting outside of graffiti. These works tend to include space, planets, and trees, and I created most of them with the goal of fitting vast spaces into small surfaces.
While I have moved away from this style of painting for the most part, it played a pivotal role in my ongoing path to create a sustainable art practice.
Spray paint on stretched canvas
2011 - 2014
2' x 8' latex paint on medium density fiberboard (two panels with french cleats on rear)
2016
This painting started as a line drawing, then became a deep orange-and-brown surface
After re-working it a few times, I settled on a chalky blue texture that, in just the right light, has an oxidized-copper green hue to it
I thing the edges left by earlier passes at this surface work nicely as a framing mechanism that remains organic
The first image below is the painting looking a much sharper blue than it typically does in real life. Below that are several different takes on this painting after running it through neural networks
Latex paint on 4' x 6' stretched canvas
November 2016
Read more about the Aquilina series here
Ink & watercolor on paper
Range from 4.5" x 6" to 6" x 9" each
Processing and Arduino code dictate four drawing modes. Viewers receive instructions that they may control these modes using a joystick, buttons, sound, and the light level in the room, but not how to do so. As they draw, their creation is projected through a pane of plexiglass and onto a thin sheet of butchers paper. Here, another participant has limited time to capture a record of the digital image using only black and white paint.
Decision >> Code >> Physical Input >> Digital Image >> Projection >> Painted Image
2015
57 Painted Hexagons
Balsa wood frames with thin plastic membranes across both sides
Treated with spray paint and arranged differently at each showing
2015
Despite sharp lines and bold color, this piece offers a certain softness and encourages the eyes to move rapidly across the sharper marks, then rest in the widely brushed areas
Latex paint on 4' x 6' stretched canvas
September 2016
