|
SUBDIVISION
We are all leaving: leaving our past, and leaving our mark. Not so long ago, we defined landscapes as the natural, pristine places of the world. Today, for most of us, such landscapes are rarely seen. And if seen, we would have had to travel and then walk a long way. Nature has become less natural, and we have accepted it. We can accept the trees growing inside a shopping mall as casually as the building itself. And we can gaze at the sun setting into the Pacific, off the Coast Highway, and ignore the telephone poles and road signs that frame our view. There is comfort in these man-made symbols, knowing that we are not alone where we stand.
This connection we feel to “civilization” is a reassurance that we are not lost, that we have control of our destiny and over the world around us. Every inch of our planet has been mapped out by satellites, satellites that are still watching, still taking pictures. Vigilant for some imminent change, when the ground opens up and shakes all that stands... when we lose control.
Landscape painting is a time-honored labor in the admiration of beauty. It is also a documentation of time: the frozen moment in a life of change. I have attempted to capture these moments, lived throughout various parts of the world, through photographic reference and journals, knowing no word or image can truly convey one moment of life. The scale I am using is representative of the time and the place that these pieces of my history occurred: a visual history of a day, a second, an idea, or a song. And with each image I build an album of that particular period in my life, like a postcard to be sent home, wherever that may be.
Rather than restating the woes of over-development, I prefer to question our consciousness of environment, whether it is in the hills of Mexico or in the strip mall. Beauty can be found in anything, anywhere. Art can present and represent everywhere, without limits of space, or need for validation; where experience is more important than the “action.”
Born in a suburb, raised in a mall, traveled by car… I now live in a city, but my work has allowed me to travel. To know where I have been is merely a record of details, and the memory is subjective. Adapting to my surroundings, in America and abroad, has transformed my views of humanity, existence, and self, and has taught me, by necessity, how to piece together the subdivisions in my life.
|