in situ: Untitled (layered meditation)

Untitled (layered meditation), 18×24 inches, colored pencil on paper, 2020
photo: Jared Baker

For the third year in a row, one of my artworks was included in the Bemis Center’s annual benefit auction. It’s always a pleasure to see my work in its new home – and what a lovely setting this one ended up in, with a lively green houseplant to keep it company!

This drawing is one of a series of my meditation drawings made about a year ago, in the first autumn of the pandemic – back home to New York, numbers rising again, the uncertainties of winter lying ahead. After time away from my studio, and away from the normal routines of life, I returned with a sense of urgency to these drawings – some in ink, some (like this one) in colored pencil. Looking at them now reminds me of feeling a bit desperate to get marks onto paper. The layered lines remind me of the warp and weft of the weaving made by my grandmother that hangs on the wall of our apartment, and of the way you can obscure a line of text best by writing something else right on top of it.

You can view more of the drawings in this series here, and bring one to your own home – here.

in situ: Darkest Before Dawn

I recently picked up these three drawings after the conclusion of “Darkest Before Dawn” at Ethan Cohen KuBe which was extended through the end of February. Really appreciated the pairing of these pieces with a loose gestural wall drawing that provided some warmth and high energy.

The drive to Beacon was all almost-green, everything on the verge of displaying springtime growth. The red flourishes on the wall below were part of a larger mural in the KuBe, which inhabits an old school building in Beacon, NY.

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virtual studio tour, December 2020

I was a little nervous about recording my studio tour for Bushwick Open Studios a couple weeks ago, but ended up really enjoying myself! Keeping the camera facing the artwork allowed me to simply focus on discussing what I was seeing, as if I was walking a friend through the studio. (In fact, I sort of was – friends and family were able to tune in virtually who do not live in NYC and wouldn’t have been able to attend an in-person event.)

This studio tour touches upon several key elements of my creative practice for the past year or so: intuitive composition, focus on repeated and overlapping patterns, and daily writing practice. This conversational way of moving through the studio felt helpful because it allowed me to point out connections between different processes as they arose: similar composition processes for paintings and drawings even though they look very different, looping line drawings which mirror cursive handwriting, etc.

The video tour, saved below, runs about eight minutes in length. I hope you enjoy!

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