Starry Nights + Vermont Studio Center

Hello there,

Since beginning my artist residency at Starry Night Retreat in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, I have made a few new discoveries!  Currently, I developing my ideas regarding geomorphology, mixed media layering techniques, and mapping the entropy of organic forms within nature.  I have two new works and a couple of works in progress:

"Geomorphic Circuit"

India ink, acrylic, collage, and transparency film on wood panel

6" X 6"

2015

The title, "Geomorphic Circuit", is a direct reference to the changing landscape. While in the Bisti Badlands, I was inspired by the buttes and hoodoos that had been eroded by dendritic drainage patterns. The resulting slot canyons formed fractal-like truncations that gradually spidered out into new directions. It got me thinking a lot about how sediment and water relationships are a lot like the relationship between surface and paint. 

To show this relationship in my work, I have begun to utilize new media and layering processes that harken to painting, but also explore potential via collage. Transparency film has become a tool to literally "animate" surface and show the gradual change from original to new forms. The geometric topology of "Geomorphic Circuit" is akin to a winding river that builds on old systems in order to transform into new ones.

"Dendritic Fossil"

Graphite, collage, and acrylic on wood panel

8" X 8"

2015

Using the same compositional strategy as my "Handkerchief Series", I collaged the dendritic drainage patterns of spilt graphite and organized the space with grids and white acrylic paint.  My intention was to convey a sense of infinite scale by comparing natural fractals to Fibonacci proportions.  As the water leaves its fractal imprint on the surface, it flows between large and small grids, akin to its geomorphological movement via micro and macro-ecology.      

Here are some pics from my ideation wall and a few updates on works in progress:

Ideation wall

Mapping the Anasazi Ruins at Chaco Canyon

"Anasazi Circuit" process

Casting the landscape

Plaster cast unearthed

Casting with Hydrocal and fiberglass to create polygonal substrates

Switching to ph-neutral Strathmore paper, archival book board, and PVA glue to build polygonal substrates.

Progress on "Titanium Quartz" organic circuit painting

And lastly, some good news!  I was recently accepted to the Vermont Studio Center and waitlisted for the Banff Centre in Canada.  I will be attending VSC for two months from January - February 2016.  Wish me luck as I am still waiting for a spot to open up at the Banff Centre!

Vermont Studio Center

Ultimately, my master plan is to complete a suite of large drawings, as well as two new series of paintings during my artist residency at the Vermont Studio Center.  The large drawings will employ scale as a means of transporting the viewer’s body into geometric spaces akin to “Geomorphic Circuit”.  My process will include collaging and layering techniques to create multi-dimensional layers within animated surfaces. The first series of paintings will involve panels that contrast and contradict spaces and surfaces.  Like jiu-jitsu, the panels will use the wall in order to work against it.  The format of the substrates will be composed of interconnected quadrilaterals that will shift in and out of architectural space.  Akin to “Cyberspaces”, the second series of paintings will be presented face-up on a large pedestal.  These panels will be higher relief and their polygonal formats will simultaneously emerge and connect via interior angles.

Interior angles

Interconnected quadrilaterals

I will continue uploading completed works in the near future, so stay tuned! 

New WIP + Austin Aspirations + Residency

Howdy folks,

I'm currently working on a larger drawing that follows the mechanics of my "Organic Circuit" drawing.  I have connected multiple circuits by translating the Cartesian coordinates of circles and ellipses onto contrasting perspectival planes.  The result is a complex interlace design.  If you follow the circuits with your finger, you can actually wrap around the whole composition in a closed loop!

Now that I have completed the composition, I am working on the value pattern that will serve as the underdrawing for the painting.  This will be the first piece in my Circuit Topology Series that I will paint!  I plan on using fluorescent orange as my ground color and taking my palette from images of titanium quartz.  I imagine this image as dark and shiny, but with a vibrant undercurrent that allows it to move beneath the surface.

After programming my tool path preview into V-Carve, I realized that the project I wanted to complete using the CNC router would have been too time consuming and lacking in detail.  Since I wasn't willing to compromise my original design and use a larger router bit, I decided to table the process altogether.  Although it is nice to have acquired the skill of using a CNC router, I will be finding other ways to complete my new series of wood panels that are simpler and more streamlined.  I will post updates as that process develops in the coming months, so stay tuned!

On a side note, I also have a new idea to use Google maps in a project centered on the topics of elevation, micro/macro, and space.  I think it would be really fun to use Google maps as a means of zooming between layers of digitally realized landscapes.  The thought of mashing various elevations together onto contradicting surfaces really speaks to my interest in tectonics, territory, and cyberspace.  I also enjoy the prospect of returning to representation and getting more painterly with my surfaces.  Perhaps I can combine the roughness of painted physicality with the smoothness of anamorphic geometry?

While in Austin, I have been networking with artists and galleries on the East Side and am considering getting a studio in the near future!  Ideally, I would like to get into a nice space where other artists are practicing nearby.  I'm considering a few spaces and will add more updates as my intentions become clearer.  Recently, I have been accepted into an artist residency called Starry Night out in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  Starting in mid-July, I will be working for a month and a half while surrounded by beautiful hot springs and desert canyons!  I hope to produce some new desert-inspired pieces during my stay.  I have also applied to residencies in Marfa, Texas and Berlin.  Wish me luck as I am being considered for these programs!              

Composition complete.

The underdrawing in process...

Titanium Quartz!

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

ShopBot Training!

Howdy ~


After moving back to Austin, Texas with my family, I have finally submitted all of the applications for my artist residencies.  While waiting to hear back from the residency programs, I have decided to do my own residency at home!  Along with catching up on academic reading, I've taken on the challenge of learning how to use a CNC router (ShopBot) in order to carve the surfaces of my wood panels with greater complexity, accuracy and ease.  Currently, I'm taking CAD classes at the Austin Tech Shop and am loving it!  Ultimately, I'm very excited to unlock the potential hidden within my new Circuit Topology designs.  The Circuit Topology paintings will have both additive and subtractive elements interacting within the surface of the wood panel.  My goal is to maximize the potential of surface by using paint to create the illusion of contradictory dimensions between sculptural and architectural spaces.  I will employ painting as material and illusionistic adjustments of dimensional visibility on surface.  

This has been my process so far:

Elevation Map

Note to self: making elevation maps of drawings with contradicting perspectival planes is a bitch.  Can I solidly claim that any particular depth is absolute in a relativistic space?  It's all a bunch of goddamn gradients....  These drawings are composed of age-old formal techniques, but they are employed in a very contemporary, postmodern fashion.  In a nutshell, I created a series of interconnected 2-point perspectival planes by blending them into a flat Cartesian grid.  By extending the perspectival lines to their vanishing points, I was able to intersect points on the flat grid and create a series of intertwining circuits between planes.  Altogether, it is a shape shifting system that generates optical tension between illusion and flatness - and within that tension, the space contradicts itself.  Because of the connections the circuits create, the highest elevations in the drawings are also the lowest.  So, when attempting to map these high and low points, it becomes difficult - there are no clear binaries and boundaries of high or low!  Instead, the elevation shifts within a delicate gradient.  Now that I am learning to use a CNC router (programmed carving machine) to carve my designs for me, it is going to be difficult to create vector files that re-imagine this drawing as a relief surface.  The vectors are solid shapes, you see.. so I have to be extra-wise in isolating which elevations I will have the router carve into the panel.  It's not a simple stair-step, because the drawing is very dynamic and contradictory.  I could carve smoother gradients of relief using a program called 3D Carve, but I'm actually excited by the challenge of finding solid shapes of elevation within this highly organic geometry.

Isolating Elevations

Programming Vectors

...More soon!  Perhaps this process will also be applicable to my organic circuits?  It will be interesting to see how the digital mind evolves my process.  I'm a cyborg artist.

Here are some additional notes:

P.S. I finished my sketchbook!  Time for a fresh dotpad ~~~

Also, Alice Aycock and Charles Simonds are my new heroes:

Charles Simonds

Alice Aycock

Still workin' on Haraway:

“Children’s Art Exhibition” + "Gallery Assistant Exhibition"

Hello folks!  

I have a very belated post regarding a few shows that I was delighted to be a part of last year.  The first show was curated and organized by my friend and colleague, Daniel Kerkhoff.  Daniel works with various international educational institutions to teach children art.  In his show, "Children's Art Exhibtion", in Cañar, Ecuador, Daniel included a print of my work, "Attractor"!  I am very excited to see my work facilitating the education of children in such a unique community!

You can learn more about Daniel Kerkhoff and his work via this link: http://danielkerkhoff.com

Secondly, I was proud to be part of a show in the guard lounge at the Walker Art Center.  The "Gallery Assistant Exhibition" featured works from many of the gallery assistants working at the Walker.  Two of my "Cyberspaces" were included in the show.  A big thanks to the managers who organized and set up the show!