I remember my mom would take my sisters and me to McDonald’s for double cheese burgers with shared fries and Coke. My idea of being rich then was that we could eat McDonalds whenever we wanted. My paintings are a reflection of my childhoods idea of success, mixed with the loneliness and introspection I feel as an adult.
I liken my work to an inversion of 16th and 17th century Vanitas genre. Vanitas paintings were a way for the merchant class to boast about their wealth and philosophize their own mortality. My work speaks to how the modern working class navigates capitalism. I make the argument that the working class has been sold a new culture created by corporations and I ask about what meaning can be found after that transaction. These corporations have successfully lobbied away their responsibilities by pushing “personal responsibility”, so that when they fail to be moral the communities that have grown to rely on them are socially policed instead of having litigation levied to hold them accountable.
I want to show what isn’t there and imply that the painting is part of a larger scene that the viewer is taking part in. The goal of this approach is to illuminate shared experiences of the working class by allowing the viewer to see themselves as a participant of the painting. I want to illuminate the beauty of the working class through empathy. I do this by implying that there should be figures in the composition and then I purposely exclude them, in their absence the viewer may insert themself to take ownership of the narrative.
I use collage and compositional elements, such as adding a border and careful placement of objects, in my paintings to create references to photography. I think photographs are the most precious reminder that something has passed into memory and can not be recovered. I also believe there is a deep well of emotions connected to photos that I can ask the viewer to withdraw when viewing my work, and that the empathy from these withdrawn emotions is essential to accurately read my intentions in creating something. The photos are not nearly as archival as the oil paintings they are collaged into, there is a very real possibility that they will fade away while the rest of the painting lasts centuries longer.
To me painting is an exercise in vulnerability, connection, and kindness to myself and for the people I surround myself with. The evidence of labor and pride in the human element is essential to it.
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