Works on Paper      

I explore concepts such as self-organizing systems in this series of kinetic paintings, most of which are double-sided paintings on translucent synthetic paper. I am increasingly fascinated with how paint moves and self-organizes. My impulse is to let it free, by using gravity and force to release the pent up energy within the linear beads of pulled paint (marks left from pulling my carved tools through wet paint) into unexpected blasts & bursts of color and form. Wet, painted stripes surge and break into an organized chaos of marks and pigment. Using force mimics natural phenomena—the resulting marks and pooled paint evoke elemental landscapes and atmospheric turbulence. I’m guiding the paint, but the work exists between chance and intent. It’s important to let these paintings take on their own seemingly random direction and find the right balance of discipline and unruliness.

Working on translucent paper allows me to paint on both sides of the substrate. The ‘back’ is linear—deliberate marks made with hand-carved squeegees that form a foundation. The front is where more complex painting happens, where gestural strokes and pools of color build up. Where I scrape paint away, the linear elements on the back become slightly visible through the translucency, creating subtle interplay between the two surfaces. This dual-sided approach generates imagery that exists simultaneously on top, in between, and underneath—layers that shift between foreground, middle, and background.