Over the past few decades, our society has experienced a period of unprecedented technological advancement, particularly as pertains to our communications apparatus. The development of the internet has led to the birth of an entirely new culture, with its own language and customs, and predicated upon global commerce and the rapid exchange of ideas across borders. With the growing popularity of mobile devices and wireless connectivity, we have also developed a level of interpersonal access never before seen in the history of humanity. With this amazing power to communicate, however, a number of ethical questions and philosophical ramifications have arisen, each rooted in ages-old concepts but containing a twist which is unique to the 21st Century. These issues include security and privacy, the nature of the dichotomy between individualism and swarm mentality, and the ever-changing defining characteristics of "humanity" and "reality". With our collective consciousness and attitude toward these questions being shaped not only by the technology itself, but also by our pop culture (most notably science fiction), it is my aspiration, as an artist of the 21st Century, to explore these ideas, along with their cultural contexts, in both the contemplative sterility of a gallery setting and in practical application in the outside world. My hope is to view these issues with greater criticality in order to encourage a more open dialogue, and perhaps even provide answers to some of our moral dilemmas.

My practice is primarily comprised of painting, although I also employ drawing, photography, and digital media. One of my technical endeavors has been to create hybrid works in which digital and traditional aspects coexist, as a direct reflection of the position of humanity in present-day society—a civilization of organic minds and souls creating an extended mechanical substrate upon which we can project ourselves. My greatest influences as an artist include Abstract Expressionism, and specifically its transformation of intangible concepts into visual forms; Francis Bacon, with his loose, visceral painting style; H.R. Giger, with his thematic narrative of the fusion of man and machine into the biomechanical; and digital artists such as David Em and Joseph Nechvetal, who essentially pioneered the use of different types of electronic programming and computerized processes to create fine art.

Artist Statement