This is the completed paint test. I'm having trouble keeping the process fluid and responsive. The respirator hurts my head and it's hard to really disappear into the work. Blah.

This is my artist's statement, still very much in progress. Pardon my dust.

I am interested in the place where disparate cultural artifacts or ideas intersect. The average American is exposed to magazines, television, Internet, billboards, and branding on consumables every day. All of these media deliver a steady stream of archetypes and stories for us to consume and identify with. Jumbled around in one American are the disparate ideas that sell consumables, but they form a fluid story line that often remains transparent: vitamins will give you peace, expensive running shoes will make you powerful and singular, some oil companies care more about the environment than others, Hummers are a way of connecting with the wild parts of our planet, black people can't hold down a job, Asian girls are kinky and shallow, terrorists are about to strike at the east coast again, New Yorkers don't like anyone but themselves, smooth legs are beautiful legs, menstruation should be sanitized and hidden because it is inherently filthy. I can type stream of consciousness style indefinitely. In these paintings I am attempting to visually highlight some of the interesting ideological juxtapositions that I see in American culture. I am trying to limit myself to a visual language which is specifically "Americana", but American culture is so adaptive that the origin of the artifacts may be Western European or African or East Asian.

I want to plumb something that is true and poignant, something that retains a sense of fun and an appreciation of the ridiculous. I find that the more I draw and try to get these ideas out on paper the subject matter is increasingly political. I am not sure if this is something I can avoid, though I want to feel of the paintings to remain inviting and homey, and I foresee a conflict there. I find that textiles, fonts, and vegetal designs are a nice neutral space to tie together a collection disparate ideas and imagery. And while I enjoy the associations that I make to icons and prolific images, I want the paintings to work on a non-representational level: the shapes and colors and texture of the paint must be pleasing. My first priority is that the painting works on a formal level, second that the paintings read on an archetypal level.