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.

Larger Studies

The following works range from 30" x 40" to 36" x 48". These are products of my preliminary small panel studies. I feel these in progress works exercise my aims towards a fusion of portraiture and landscape, through found imagery.

"Kinetic Dawn"

Detail of "Kinetic Dawn"

"Lit"

"Analouge Exile (Diptych)"

Left Panel of "Analouge Exile"

"Festive Situation"

"Jay & Mike"

More Preliminary Works

Several of these small panel, preliminary works have served as an important tool for determining subject matter. As said in previous posts, the main idea is to put more aspects of myself within these oddly juxtaposed found images. "Jamrock" 20 dolla

Banga

Strut

Bareback

Xanpagne

Tricked

UNTITLED (FILM STILL FROM "BLOW UP")

My Father Reading (2 different works in progress)

"First Apartment"

Allison

Garden (MC)

Preliminary Studies-Emphasis on Characters

While this stage of my preliminary work felt highly experimental, these were vigourously rendered in order to achieve a sense of my process.
"Group Shot"


Kevin and Allison in my Basement


Buck (Interior)

Buck Outside (Leo Pissing)

Jerome Benton with Ricky

Monte Moir

Morris Day

Jeff Pocarco

David Paich

Donald Fagen

Ginger

April

Burner Girls

Adam

Intense Start

Working from a mixture of photographic image sources has always been of great interest to me. I often use photos that I have taken, or ones I find in National Geographic, The New York Times, or on the street.
The process seemingly gains momentum when images are gathered and deconstructed. While this semesters work has risen from a similar conglomerate of photographic imagery, I began to question that approach more frequently.

My mentor, Angela Dufresne, suggested that the majority of my images had very little to do with myself, and had more to do with "National Geographic Tourism." The selection of photos was just that, lacking imagination.
It also became evident that I was too concerned with the way the painting appeared, how it was structured, what colors were employed, etc. I was encouraged to realize that I am already aware of how the work should "appear," but that I was very uncertain about my subject matter.
I eventually realized that it would be beneficial for me to use images that were more about me and where I come from.

Preliminary Works