The
painstaking construction of genre paintings from the 17th and 18th century
amuses me. Somewhere in the grand effort towards accuracy, “history”
is captured but always distorted in unlikely classical poses and costumes,
with contorted animals rendered from taxidermied models to match. But
beyond the artifice of a taxidermied model, the creatures in my paintings
are based on sculptures made of cardboard, tape, glue, felt, faux fur,
and rhinestone eyes. I surround myself with these animals, and through
painting I enable their animation and occupation of a new world. In particular,
the After Rubens series utilizes the creatures as stand-ins in large scale
oil paintings based on Peter Paul Rubens’ hunting scenes. My other
sculpture, paintings and drawings likewise embrace cartoon artifice, and
reach for a new reality that stems from common materials and familiar
languages of representation.