Artist Statement
Visibility and legibility are primary concerns in my paintings. My most recent work explores legibility of landscape – how one comes to see and know the plants around us, and in this recognition, see ourselves as one with our surroundings. I enact this question in my work through juxtaposing expansive stained painted grounds with descriptive contour renderings of plants, figures, landscapes, all made with printed string lines. The abstract veils of paint are a metaphor for forces outside of our control that shape our experience, whether environmental, economic, or metaphysical, while the definition of contour line speaks to the desire for legibility.
Tiers of landscapes, layered into one another, themes of potential regeneration, presence through absence, and growth out of decay. All plants rendered in this painting facilitate phytoremediation, including Brassica juncea (Indian mustard), Sorghastrum nutans (Indian Grass), and comfrey.