STATEMENT OF WORK

In my studio, I am constantly juggling prepositions: up to, within, beneath, against, except. Tying knots to make a net is around, behind, across. Knitting a cloth is in, over, through, off. Each action is in relation to another, and to the material record of past actions. In making a painting, I record this delicate intertwining of marks and motions.

I make my paintings by casting resin into a flexible mold, creating irregular, unpredictable surfaces on which to paint. I then add to the surfaces in layers of paint and collage with fabric, thread, and paper. The accumulated surfaces record each step of their making - tracing brush, thread, fold, or knot. I am interested in the permeability and mutability of the surface – considering at what point a single thread becomes a cloth, a cloth becomes a surface, or a surface becomes a picture plane.

In recent work, I have particularly plumbed the notion of a grid, hand-tying nets which I cast in resin, use as stencils, and apply as additional layers. A grid measures and marks a surface, defining its two dimensions. My grids are open and tenuous; both marking boundaries and allowing egress. Even cast in hard resin, the nets in these paintings remain loose, open, and flexible. Casting these nets is a process of mindful attention, each line or thread or drip of paint demanding careful focus.