That Will Leave A Mark

This is the second year I have entered ArtFields. An incredible 8 days of art in the little South Carolina town of Lake City. It all starts with some brainstorming and then a sketch.

You can't take it with you, 2018

Oil on Canvas

39.5"x124.75"x2.25" 22 individual Canvases

This piece is a continued exploration combines my experiences in the advertising industry as a sign and billboard artist with the social implications of advertising messages (when taken out of context) and the disposable nature of our culture. The contradiction of the temporary nature of advertising and the consumed goods sold, by those messages, remain as our cultural legacy. I have come to realize that time moves on leaving fragments and pieces of memory and experience, communicating in messages we may not be aware of on the surface. Billboards, like memory, were recycled and repainted with no regard to what lay underneath. From this, I’ve noticed an abstract communication arise, often not in any order, forming interesting shapes and images left behind by the different pieces of the previous ads. The current work continues exploring this “puzzle” or “layering” type of

communication. The fragmenting of messages and our culture are further expressed in the use of pieces that stand alone as an abstract work while collectively forming a larger piece communicating multiple messages at one time, changing with each viewers experiences and views.

The prep work is the most time consuming part. Building the stretchers, Gessoing, painting the edges and finally adding the hanging hardware. But also part of the process I enjoy.

Had to build a temporary jig to hold all of the individual canvases together for painting.

And so the real fun begins. I will hand draw the entire piece from reference photos and sketches. In this case you will notice, I flipped the entire design before painting to make a better composition.