With Wood Grain
2009
My most recent body of work combines direct rubbings of wood grain, monochromatic gestural painting and obsessive line drawing. Although there are obvious connections to photography and printmaking, these images are all one of a kind. Every line is drawn freehand without a straight edge and the wood grain pattern is rubbed individually onto each surface from separate planks of wood.
These pieces follow nine years of painting highly detailed abstract miniatures on raw pine boards. The accumulation of tiny mark making on wood created a raised surface and distinct texture which naturally led to me to make rubbings of the miniature paintings. Later, I began to create more expansive rubbings taken from the deck behind my kitchen. On top of this layer of wood grain pattern, the organic dissemination of painted marks across the surface mutated into a more methodical system of painting and line drawing.
It is significant that the natural element in the work, the wood grain, is derrived from pressure treated wood, infused with chemicals formulated to defy nature. This toxic impression is captured on Yupo, a synthetic Japanese paper made of polypropylene—which ironically, is a "green" material.
The work is largely driven by process and materials, however the selection of synthetic, natural and chemical elements in combination with textures directly lifted from my home lends the work personal resonance and at the same time harbors more universal concerns.
AR 2009
CPTV
2009
Aldrich Museum
June 2009
Harry Philbrick Essay
June 2006
