In My Mind, On My Lips, And In My Heart - screen print

This print was completed with both a conceptual and technical goal in mind. The latter was to convince myself that I could still draw representationally, since I had not so in a long period of time. I was relieved to discover I still could. The former was an examination of the short prayer said during communion proceedings during Catholic mass. I am interested in how science has historically disenfranchised religion, and this print is meant to examine how spiritualism is being eroded by materialism. This work does not advocate either position, but rather serves as a reflection on personal history. 26x13", edition of 6.

A Documentary - Twenty Games Of Simon At Skill Level Four

Plainly and simply, my memory is terrible. I can barely remember last week, and I have to write everything down, making lists upon lists just to function in everyday life. This print attempted to follow the subjectivity thread from the Cheeto print, but with an emphasis on the relativity of memory. While I wanted my prints to be mere documentations of a series of events I did not control, they were in actuality nothing of the sort. For instance, consider the percent error I likely attained in "documenting" the either/or coin flips 11,935 times in the print below. So this print is something of a confession and recognition of the element of human error, using a favorite childhood toy, Simon, as the medium. I played twenty games at the most difficult skill level, and as you can see, did not do well. Each game was recorded with the given light-ups in their respective orders. So, this print in a way memorializes both the effectiveness and shortcomings of memory. 19.75x30", edition of 6.

A Documentary - The Existential Relevance Of One 13.5 Ounce Bag Of Cheetos

This print was a departure but also an extension of the abstract randomly generated work I was producing. After fabricating a fair number of the aforementioned prints, I began thinking more about the documentary nature of these works. To me, they had a very existential feel - the prints were merely the representations of a series of mundane events, and only referred back to their own processes and history. However, the same series of events could have been represented infinitely many ways. While we strive for objectivity in documentation, it is ultimately steeped in a subjective point of view, simply as a result of perspective, the limits of language, and our unavoidably separate consciousnesses. This may seem like excessive philosophical drivel over Cheetos, and it likely is, but I became fascinated with the mundane, completely benign elements of everyday life, and the subjectivity with which we approach them with. Consequently, I set out to create another random print, but to document something utterly pointless, elevating it to something gravely important through the absurd action of art-making. I bought a 13.5 ounce bag of Cheetos, and methodically removed each morsel, one by one, and traced it on a piece of paper. I then rated its cheesiness on a scale from 1 to 4, which is reflected by the colors in the print; the deeper the orange, the greater the cheesiness. 20x26", edition of 8.

Double Latte Via Quantum Construction - screen print

I am a complete coffee junkie, and the nerdy title of this print reflects that. While standing over the finished print in the studio, waiting for it to dry, all I could see in this busy, jittery mess was little espresso molecules crashing around with little milk molecules, so I went with it. Slightly reminiscent of that great scene in the film Pi, where the cream is dumped into the cup of coffee. 21x30", edition of 4.

Where Y Is Randomly Generated, X Moves Towards Saturation - screen print

This diptych is meant to be displayed without blog text between each respective print, but you get the idea. For this print, I used the Fibonacci sequence as a starting point, and drafted the print so the layers would gradually begin to saturate into a solid tone as it progressed further outward to the edges. 22x30" each, grey - edition of 2, green (not pictured) - edition of 4.

11,935 Either/Or Instances Superimposed In Five Layers - screen prints

These prints are aptly named, as there are literally 11,935 either/or events that led to image you see above. I began by drafting a grid of 4x4" squares, and using rubylith, flipped a coin to determine whether a given cell of rubylith would be peeled away from the positive or left intact. I did this in five layers, each time dividing the previous square into four new cells, the final layer consisting of 1/4" cubes. Knowing I wanted to print this during the fall semester, I began this work in the summer because it took nearly a month just to draft, and the fact that it didn't land me in a psych ward still amazes me. I ended up taking a set of quarters which I colored on one side with a black marker to make the faces more distinguishable, and scattering them across the floor, then recorded their pattern. I probably walked around for a month with tiny rubylith cubes stuck to my jeans and in my hair. I enjoy the fact that this print looks like it was drafted by a computer, or could have been, but was actually obsessively drafted by hand. While a machine could have burped out this image in a fraction of a second, I would never have had the chance to digest how the image unfolded, cell by cell, had I not spent hours staring at it. 30x22", yellow/green - edition of 8, blue/grey - edition of 5.

87 Degrees, Relatively High Humidity - screen print

Every so often an artwork just seems to work effortlessly, and I feel this is the case with this print, which is still one of my favorites, and unfortunately, one I printed in a very small edition. Part of the attraction for me of working in the manner I did (drafting screen print positives by randomly cutting hundreds of pieces of rubylith) was that you never knew what was going to happen until you finally inked up the screen. These prints are methodically and fastidiously planned out, yet the end product is completely veiled until it is printed. I often stood for several minutes examining how each ink run layered with the last, trying to understand how the print was built up to an incredibly complex image from only a few simple variables or parameters. 21x30", edition of 5.

Untitled - screen print

11x11", edition of 7.

Untitled - screen prints

These two prints were drafted using the same positives, just different color runs. These were constructed by randomly drafting an asymmetrical grid on rubylith, scoring it, the flipping a coin to determine whether a cell of rubylith would be removed or remain. This process was conducted several time, then layered through printing. 14x11", blue - edition of 8, orange - edition of 9.

Untitled - screen print

Another screen print drafted by chance - the color, and length of the cells were determined by tossing coins or rolling dice. This one was drafted by hand using photo-opaque markers on frosted mylar. 22x15", edition of 5.

Decaffeinated - screen print

This print was done for a print exchange entitled "Whoops" and depicts a happy housewife accidentally making accursed decaf coffee for her husband. I was obviously looking at some tacky '50s illustration art at the time. 14x11", edition undetermined.

Untitled - screen prints

This set of three prints was the second endeavor using the aforementioned random process. (On a tangent, I feel the need to clarify that I use "random" loosely, as I'm in fact fairly skeptical about randomness. I suspect this is only a convention of language we use to frame the unknown, which has a specific causal history, but is, of course, unknown. Enough brash metaphysical claims though . . . ) Again, the prints were drafted by setting up a set of variables within a given range, and then seeing what would happen. The first print, which I don't really like, is an amalgamation of the other two. But hey, maybe this is how plaid was discovered. 7x22" each, edition of 4.

Untitled - screen print

This small, simple print deserves an explanation, as it had massive implications for me. This print was conceived and executed at a time when I was beginning to approach language theory in philosophy, and I was constantly stewing, trying to understand exactly how meaning in language worked. I was also reading and ruminating about how an art object is to be distinguished from a so-called "real object." This mental toying prompted my questioning to what extent an artist has control over his/her work, and how are we to sort the deliberate from the arbitrary. We all know critics have written volumes into works of art, illuminating their murky depths for us, only to find out there was nothing there to begin with, or they were completely wide of the mark. Duchamp gave us readymades. Warhol used repetition until meaning was all but void. So, how does the true causal history of an artwork relate to its intention or alleged meaning? I had, and still have, no idea; but I set out to make work that was based heavily on documentation of an event, rather than trying to convey meanings. In this print, I assigned a grey tone to each number on a dice, set up a template, and drafted an artwork by chance. This process (which I would later find out was similar to John Cage's while composing music with the I-Ching) was heavily exploited in my later undergrad years in both prints and ceramics. This concept continues to linger in my artwork, and is an idea I wish to flesh out both aesthetically and philosophically in the future. 7x22", edition of 6.

Breathe I - screen print

7.5x7.5", edition of 10.

Synthcell - screen print

Again, a more political/punk rock take on the anatomy theme. I'm still fond of this print, one of the first I did. 11x30", edition of 10.

Portal - screen print

I think I did this one to meet an end-of-the-semester print quota . . . 7x7", edition of 5.

Angel I - screen print

A more ethereal take on the anatomy influence. 11x30", edition of 4.

Sex And Violence - screen print

This is actually a tiled print, meant to be displayed with a minimum of four prints together (though there are 25). A little tribute to pop art and punk rock.

Untitled - screen print

Please I - screen print

Another screen print drawing from a fascination with anatomy and medical illustration. 10x10", edition of 8.