As a painter I make images that are authentic, contemporary, psychologically resonant, and emotionally complex. Some of the themes I explore are celebrity culture, professional sports, and world politics. Using contemporary events as sources keeps me looking forward. I have been using news footage and press photos as the beginnings of my new Mob Scene paintings and am drawn to the excitement and inherent danger of large groups. These paintings came from watching the news with my wife in the mornings before work and seeing the similarities between crowds outside the morning shows, people attending a sporting event, and protesters marching for change.

In addition to my personal practice, I have a collaborative painting project, Sexy/OFFENDER, with my friend and painter Ben Moore. We mash online image-based culture with 18th century French portraiture. This collaboration uses a 6”X8” format, a variety of 2D media, and features portrait painting firmly at its core. We draw from online media such as mug shots, tabloid photography, and profile pictures. We are inspired by the consequences of youthful indiscretion, the hard reality of aging in the public spotlight, and by the sheer magnitude of the source material available to us via the Internet. The works are clearly made by two different people, but the goals, struggles, interests, and passion for the problems of portrait painting remains shared.

In 2016 performance is becoming an integral part of my studio practice. I am the singer and rhythm guitarist in the garage band, Red Cities. I have been sharing themes and integrating the source material from my painting practice into the content of my musical group. I am building a series of homemade audio amplifiers (one done, one to go) to use as the central feature for a performance series. In March I collaborated with photographer Josh Leeker (theleekers.com) to make a series of limited edition photographs related to the destruction of my old artwork (2001-2011). In all of these new avenues I am looking for ways to interact with contemporary news events and to integrate myself into a bigger world. Collaboration is becoming increasingly important to my creative production.