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WORK
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STATEMENT
Somewhere in the classroom of my youth a larger person told me that the best work is forged out of what you are familiar with. I agree with this and have tried my best to live up close and personal to any subject that I want to make art about. Like the land artists Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long, I think that it is not just the resulting creation, but the most ridiculous path you take to make it that makes something great. For the past decade, I have aimed to learn hands on about the ways of different seafaring people. As a merchant marine, sailor, and commercial fisherman I have found inspiration throughout the reaches of the Pacific Ocean.
From the origin of our species to the migration of our ancestors, humans have always had a strong relationship with the sea. Fueled by both folklore and scientific discovery, mysteries of the sea have evolved for centuries. My nautical fascinations have lead me to learn the trades and meet the people that make the sea such a vital part of their lives. It is through my artistic work that I rediscover my experiences using photography, film, video, and painting. I often emphasize the lengths of certain voyages by attempting to create an expanse of time in a two-dimensional image: layering days, skies, and seas upon each other. In my painted works I often experiment with the materials I have become familiar with on jobs at sea, such as fiberglass, epoxy, and seawater. The results in all of my work are like memory, blending reality with idealistic recollection into something new.
Personally, it is not only the physical artistic results, but the anthropological discoveries I make that drive my overall work. The array of characters I have had the pleasure of meeting push me to create art with a focus beyond an introspective art world. Whether on a lavish sailboat being delivered from Hawaii to California or a stripped down commercial salmon fishing vessel in Alaska, I have found an unmistakable passion and respect for the sea in my crewmates. Although there is such a personal connection with my work, my true aim is to create imagery that is wide open to the viewer. So many of us have spent time merely sitting by the water, staring out at the vast sea, and contemplating our own lives. I hope that my work can have this meditative quality while still being somewhat dynamic and visually stimulating.
Currently I am focusing on a series of works based on imagery from the San Francisco Bay. For the past four months I have worked on an Oil Spill Recovery Ship out of Richmond, California. This job got me out on the water, literally throughout the entire bay, at all times of the day and night. My time spent on this ship completed the final US Coast Guard requirements for my Merchant Mariner license to allow me to ship offshore as an “Able Bodied” deckhand. After spending some much needed time in the studio, I will soon begin my daily visits to the Sailors Union of the Pacific, awaiting what will hopefully be an international shipping job on a cargo ship or tanker for two to three months. I hope to document my experiences with photography and video as well as set up a temporary studio in my cabin to work in my off time. As usual, when I return from this job I will spend as much time as possible back in the studio creating work from this voyage. I hope you enjoy my work, please check back to see where it takes me next.
CV
Born: 1980 San Jose, CA
Lives and works in San Francisco
EDUCATION
2007 MFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
2003 BFA, University of California, Santa Barbara
RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 “Inaugural Desacreatures” The Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 “Save The Waves” 111 Minna, San Francisco, CA
2007 “Grounded?” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2007 “7th Annual Film/Video Screening” Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2007 Notthatbalai Art Festival 07, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2007 “Vernissage” San Francisco Art Institute MFA Graduate Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2006 “RIFNM06” The 1st Reno Interdisciplinary Festival of New Media, University of Nevada, Reno, NV
2006 “Upgrade: Photographic Works, Paintings, and Films” Swell Gallery,
San Francisco, CA
2005. “New Works” Delphine Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
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