ARTIST STATEMENT
Almost Not There (2018)
Bound more by theme than motif, the work in this exhibit skitters on the line between presence and absence. Walls, water, brick and metal, atmosphere and mountain, each is set up to pique with strangeness and inevitability. Exploring the magic of contradictions, the subjects are simultaneously tenuous and formidable, inviting and frank, and a wry retort to a question. Are we almost there? No, we are almost not there.
Someone Else’s Light (2016)
These unpeopled portraits explore the mutability of the monumental. The subjects struggle to maintain their formal identity against a number of threats: light, darkness, chaos, decay, and, most insidious of all, mundanity.
The act of building is generally considered synonymous with growth and progress. In the cities I’ve called home, construction more often seems the imposition of one will upon another. Visually, the result is a sort of competition; angles wedge their way into vegetation and undaunted, the foliage always pushes back. All it takes is a look out of an airplane window and it becomes abundantly clear; human lines are the simple ones, the un-nuanced ones, the only forms that have somewhere immediate to go. Underneath, the natural landscape undulates and meanders, oblivious though scarred. In Los Angeles, the distinction between the created and the natural is most pointed, and the struggle between them most beguiling.
Encaustic is the perfect paint with which to explore this balance between control and chaos. In trying to wrestle a recognizable image from a fluid and often incorrigible medium, a tension emerges, echoing the drama outside the window.
Ultimately, whether cut with shocking brilliance or lulled with an indistinct haze, the disparate elements of any topography somewhat miraculously fuse into a unified vision: a landscape. No matter how brutish or banal our contributions to this vision, the unifying natural elements of light, atmosphere, and verdure never surrender. The result is to our benefit. We are never left with a pure wasteland, and our efforts to see and to know are never unrewarded.
Almost Not There (2018)
Bound more by theme than motif, the work in this exhibit skitters on the line between presence and absence. Walls, water, brick and metal, atmosphere and mountain, each is set up to pique with strangeness and inevitability. Exploring the magic of contradictions, the subjects are simultaneously tenuous and formidable, inviting and frank, and a wry retort to a question. Are we almost there? No, we are almost not there.
Someone Else’s Light (2016)
These unpeopled portraits explore the mutability of the monumental. The subjects struggle to maintain their formal identity against a number of threats: light, darkness, chaos, decay, and, most insidious of all, mundanity.
The act of building is generally considered synonymous with growth and progress. In the cities I’ve called home, construction more often seems the imposition of one will upon another. Visually, the result is a sort of competition; angles wedge their way into vegetation and undaunted, the foliage always pushes back. All it takes is a look out of an airplane window and it becomes abundantly clear; human lines are the simple ones, the un-nuanced ones, the only forms that have somewhere immediate to go. Underneath, the natural landscape undulates and meanders, oblivious though scarred. In Los Angeles, the distinction between the created and the natural is most pointed, and the struggle between them most beguiling.
Encaustic is the perfect paint with which to explore this balance between control and chaos. In trying to wrestle a recognizable image from a fluid and often incorrigible medium, a tension emerges, echoing the drama outside the window.
Ultimately, whether cut with shocking brilliance or lulled with an indistinct haze, the disparate elements of any topography somewhat miraculously fuse into a unified vision: a landscape. No matter how brutish or banal our contributions to this vision, the unifying natural elements of light, atmosphere, and verdure never surrender. The result is to our benefit. We are never left with a pure wasteland, and our efforts to see and to know are never unrewarded.
RESUME
EDUCATION
1994 St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, Bachelor of Arts
1993 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Student exchange program, Fall semester
1991-89 Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Almost Not There, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Someone Else’s Light George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Recent Paintings, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - Fellowship in the Visual Arts Exhibition
2002 Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2001 Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2001 Allen/Thomas Gallery, Neenah, WI
2000 Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1998 Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1998 Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1996 Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield, MN
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 The Cityscape Show VIII, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2017 The Cityscape Show VII, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2016 The Cityscape Show VI, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2015 The Cityscape Show V, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2013 The Cityscape Show III, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2013 Ronde des Artistes, “Enchantement d’Argoat” St Caradec, France
2012 The Cityscape Show II, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2011 The Cityscape Show, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia PA
2010 Cross-Pollination, Connection Through the Art of Encaustic, Surface Gallery, Bakersfield, CA
2008 “Melt My Art” Juried encaustic show, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA
2003 Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI
2001 Art Center/South Florida, Miami Beach, FL
2001 Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI “My Work and I” Recent work and a self-portrait
2000 Steensland Museum, Northfield, MN “Wax and Burn; Encaustic Art in Minnesota Today”
2000 Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI; “Interiors”, a three-person show
1999 Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia PA; Four-Person landscape show
1999 Art of the State, Harrisburg, PA; Statewide juried exhibition
1998 Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Annual Juried exhibition
1997 Adzak Museum, Paris, France; Canadian/American Exhibition
1997 International Design Center, Minneapolis, MN
1997 Contemporary Realism, Inaugural National juried show, Gallery Alexy, Philadelphia, PA
1996 Suzanne Kohn Gallery, Minneapolis, MN; "New Generation" - Emerging Minnesota artists
COLLECTIONS
Muzak Corporation, New York, NY
Art Museum of LaSalle College, Philadelphia, PA
St Olaf College, Rovlaag Gallery Northfield, MN
AWARDS
2003 Sotheby’s/Artlink International Young Art Finalist
2000 National Foundation for the Advancement of Art, Fellowship in Visual Arts, Miami, FL three-year Residency/Grant from 2000-2003
1999 Minnesota State Fair Merit Award, painting
1997 Adzak Museum Paris, France; Artist in Residence
1994 St. Olaf College Dean's List 1991-1994; departmental distinction
1994 St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, Bachelor of Arts
1993 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Student exchange program, Fall semester
1991-89 Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Almost Not There, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Someone Else’s Light George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Recent Paintings, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - Fellowship in the Visual Arts Exhibition
2002 Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2001 Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2001 Allen/Thomas Gallery, Neenah, WI
2000 Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1998 Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1998 Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1996 Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield, MN
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 The Cityscape Show VIII, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2017 The Cityscape Show VII, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2016 The Cityscape Show VI, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2015 The Cityscape Show V, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2013 The Cityscape Show III, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2013 Ronde des Artistes, “Enchantement d’Argoat” St Caradec, France
2012 The Cityscape Show II, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles
2011 The Cityscape Show, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia PA
2010 Cross-Pollination, Connection Through the Art of Encaustic, Surface Gallery, Bakersfield, CA
2008 “Melt My Art” Juried encaustic show, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA
2003 Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI
2001 Art Center/South Florida, Miami Beach, FL
2001 Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI “My Work and I” Recent work and a self-portrait
2000 Steensland Museum, Northfield, MN “Wax and Burn; Encaustic Art in Minnesota Today”
2000 Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI; “Interiors”, a three-person show
1999 Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia PA; Four-Person landscape show
1999 Art of the State, Harrisburg, PA; Statewide juried exhibition
1998 Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Annual Juried exhibition
1997 Adzak Museum, Paris, France; Canadian/American Exhibition
1997 International Design Center, Minneapolis, MN
1997 Contemporary Realism, Inaugural National juried show, Gallery Alexy, Philadelphia, PA
1996 Suzanne Kohn Gallery, Minneapolis, MN; "New Generation" - Emerging Minnesota artists
COLLECTIONS
Muzak Corporation, New York, NY
Art Museum of LaSalle College, Philadelphia, PA
St Olaf College, Rovlaag Gallery Northfield, MN
AWARDS
2003 Sotheby’s/Artlink International Young Art Finalist
2000 National Foundation for the Advancement of Art, Fellowship in Visual Arts, Miami, FL three-year Residency/Grant from 2000-2003
1999 Minnesota State Fair Merit Award, painting
1997 Adzak Museum Paris, France; Artist in Residence
1994 St. Olaf College Dean's List 1991-1994; departmental distinction