“Optimus” oil on canvas, 64″ x 54″, 2001.“Optimus (detail)” oil on canvas, 64″ x 54″, 2001.“Optimus (detail)” oil on canvas, 64″ x 54″, 2001.“Help Flow” oil on canvas, 60″ x 54″, 2001. “Help Flow (detail)” oil on canvas, 60″ x 54″, 2001.“Help Flow (detail)” oil on canvas, 60″ x 54″, 2001.“Pit” oil on canvas, 66″ x 50″, 2001. “Pit (detail)” oil on canvas, 66″ x 50″, 2001. “Pit (detail)” oil on canvas, 66″ x 50″, 2001. “Digigasm” oil on canvas, 56″ x 56″, 2001. “Digigasm (detail)” oil on canvas, 56″ x 56″, 2001. “Digigasm (detail)” oil on canvas, 56″ x 56″, 2001. “Spring” oil on canvas, 70″ x 50″, 2001. “Spring (detail)” oil on canvas, 70″ x 50″, 2001. “Spring (detail)” oil on canvas, 70″ x 50″, 2001.
Being a child in 1980’s America I absorbed a constant stream of cartoons. Seeing them as an adult on the Cartoon Network was like hanging out with my sister after school again. Watching classic Smurf’s Care Bears, and Tom and Jerry episodes also showed me forms and content that I could use in my paintings. I began working with them immediately.
My process filters painting through cartoons and cartoons through painting by alternations of sampling, inventing, and obscuring. I shadow the original context by isolating form or I selectively detail each image to match source material in part or whole. I want to make something no one has seen before from something everyone has seen. I’m creating with the visual elements and the nostalgic significance. The result is a group of paintings that each has own identity as united by the context of cartoons.
-Artist’s Statement circa 2002
“Rickish” oil on canvas, 56”x 56”, 2001.“Rickish (detail)” oil on canvas, 56”x 56”, 2001.“Rickish (detail)” oil on canvas, 56”x 56”, 2001.“Mucal” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Mucal (detail)” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Mucal (detail)” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Idyll” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Idyll (detail)” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Idyll (detail)” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Optimus” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Optimus (detail)” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Optimus (detail)” watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Help Flow” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Help Flow (detail)” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Help Flow (detail)” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Pit” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Digigasm” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Digigasm (detail)” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Digigasm (detail)” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Spring” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Spring (detail)” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Study for Spring (detail)” watercolor and pencil on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2001.“Gawd” spray paint and watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″, 2000-01.
