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Artist Statement
Why retro/vintage objects, like vintage books, typewriters, telephones, fans, clocks, cameras? More than one reason. On one level, they have beautiful, sometimes intricate, sometimes simple, but always tactile designs. Presenting these regular, banal subjects in painting transfers them to iconic symbols of the not-so-distant past.
On another level, things like the typewriters, when painted along with books, paper, pencils, represent ideas and stories being shared. Clocks are the passage of time, as well as having unique faces, colors and shapes. Cameras are image makers, and as a painter, I make images. Cameras capture instant moments, I capture cameras in slow, close observation. I've painted telephones for years, they symbolize talking and listening — communication. Electric fans, when painted together seem to become figurative and when placed in certain compositions you can create subtle narratives that can be interpreted in a myriad of ways.
We have modern versions of all these objects, obviously. But when using decades old objects, they transport the viewer away from our noisy world to the world of memory. They're more thoughtful, quieter, simpler. Nostalgic? Maybe. But there seems to be some missing virtue that can be found in painting them and linking them together. I think it's undeniable, beautiful, heavy and deep, like a colossal 85-year-old Undwerwood typewriter.
I am drawn to painting objects from the past because they give me opportunities for thoughtfulness and hopefully the viewers too. |
