Boston Young Contemporaries- 808 Commonwealth Ave., Boston MA. July 24th- August 5th, 2010

A detail from Goddess Alchemy (Prostitutes from "Holy Mountain")

Goddess Alchemy (Prostitutes from "Holy Mountain")

In Progress Piece of "Fetus"

Above: The image source of my friend "Fetus"

This piece is about 4.5 feet by 5 feet. It is from a while ago, Ive considered it unfinished for a very long time. I had to take it out of my studio and bring it to my apartment. So I face this thing about everyday. I am looking forward to getting back to it. I am thinking of working back into his clothes, capturing some of that style. Then go in to the background, with something solid. This whole piece feels very unresolved.

Another "Mash-Up" of Ideas

The above images were brought together in a painting to further explore the ambiguity within a particular event. I seek to create an overall situation. I take these images from the web, that have nothing to do with eachother, as means to find a connection. I think Jerry Garcia's music from the 70s can- somehow, find a way to be meaningful to the 2009 incident in which a gang beat a youth to death in Chicago. Yet, at the beginning of the painting, I am not sure how.

Elements of what is Urban begins to get lost within this paintings. Many of my viewers said they felt something more tropical, as if this were taking place in Africa or near a swamp. I enjoy the way in which my viewers become active participants in determing the narrative.

I do not intend to re-do this piece. But it will serve as a basis for future work. I enjoy the idea of painting a mob or gang. I think this proves that I need to plan out the composition more. I do not like the way in which all of the figures are cropped. I could have created more a flow within this crowd, if you could only see their stances more clearly.

The addition of the car was a mistake. It should have been done differently, but it really bogs down the painting, a lot my viewers could not get past it.

I will continue to explore ways in which to incorporate music or musicians. I think the idea of a soundtrack could be useful within this approach of a mash-up, or clash of images. It could help connect everything.

Ditka's Hybrid Reality

Above: The piece in its early stages. I wanted to create an active enviornment from the start. I was using a images sources that depicted a carnival or a parade, I wanted to transform the function of confetti within my marks.

Detail: The image of the dog is of my Spectrum, yet I decided to leave a certain amount of detail out. Similar to the way I did with Coach Mike Ditka.

The general description is still present. Many of my vieweres were able to figure out who this is. At the same time, a lot of viewers think they know "what kind of " character this is. This deconstruction of idenity is an imporant aspect in the work.

I consider this piece to be an experiment for a larger work. Figures moving within a made up world, a world that can only exist in painting, serves a basis for a lot of last semesters work. There is a lot of built up paint and layering of color within this piece, I want to re-do this with more freshness and transparency.