To begin the work in this series I went looking for my parents. Not my real parents mind you (they are alive and wonderful), but my Art Parents. Art Parents are my biggest influences. Theses are artists whose work I feel most connected to at the moment as well as the artwork that has been most meaningful and impactful to my development over time. When making “Pisces”, I had two daddies.

The work of George Condo is really fresh and relevant to me now. His subjects are grotesque, but he treats them with empathy and humor. The figures portray the absurdity of contemporary human experience. This is something I strive for in my own work. I relate to the emotional content and cultural commentary in the work, as well as more formal characteristics of color and composition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Nauman has been a major influence on my work for as long as I can remember. The body of work, which became Duende, took as a point of departure Nauman’s Topological Gardens, his seminal exhibition for the US pavilion at the Venice Biennale on 2009. This work drifted into my consciousness in 2009 and I began making hanging heads, starting with Being Human Now. I revisited images of Naumans work when I began Duende in 2013.

“Pisces” can bee seen in the Faculty Exhibition at Grossmont College through September11, 2014.