Congratulations.
The jury & the voters have spoken.

About this Project

An old friend of mine said these paintings seem like they are about something vast and very specific at the same time. The vastness is definitely represented by the aircrafts. They are mystery, the unknowable, the unattainable and the divine. They can rescue us, they can carry us to or away from our loved ones, and they can bring us home. They are dangerous yet exhilarating. They are the realization of the human desire to fly, but most of us don’t understand how it is even possible.

The very specific parts of these paintings are (in many but not all cases) scenes that I see every day where I live. Whether it be a bed that I sleep in or a falling down shed that I drive by on my way to work, these things bind me to the here and now.

About this Project

The desire to do these paintings grew out of the illuminated manuscript series, in its slowing down of the news and the 20 days of apathy series in its contrasting the news of the world with private life. To me, these are contemporary history paintings—the history that will show up one day in books is in the newspapers, the rest is personal history.

About this Project

A Baroque painting on a cathedral ceiling and a pornographic image in a slick magazine both transport the viewer to a desired state of ecstasy, whether spiritual or sexual. The church ceiling series is paintings based on reproductions of painted cathedral ceilings. I reproduce the faux architecture and replace the figures with couples lifted from porn magazines, figures from popular culture, and personal narrative.

The most recent painting, Something is Missing, was specifically created as a response to the Goucher College’s Rosenberg Gallery space. The gallery’s permanent lights were incorporated in the helicopter searchlights. Though quite different from the earlier ceiling pieces, this piece continues the idea of human beings’ innate drive to search for something more in life.

About this Project

My search for meaning has always inspired my work, but it is increasingly hard for me to know what I am supposed to care about. The 20 Days of Apathy drawings juxtapose headlines and to-do lists or other diaristic drawings of non-eventful days. By doing this, I hope to expose my own apathy and possibly find a way out of it.

About this Project

Through sources such as CNN breaking news, I get constant reminders that people are dying in wars and natural disasters alongside celebrity gossip. Britney Spear’s latest breakdown gets equal weight as tsunami that killed over 170,000 people. My paintings based on illuminated manuscripts seek to explore and reflect this conundrum by putting Internet-based headlines and news stories within a more intimate context.

About this Project

The pop-up ads are actual-sized drawings of both real and fake pop-up ads.