20”x20”, Oil on Canvas, 2018
My work is about how I see and value the landscape that surrounds me. In recent years my work celebrates nature in the city and advocates for urban green space and green infrastructure. These works feature natural aspects of the city landscape and their interplay with the built environment. In addition to creating 2 dimensional works on paper and canvas, I also collaborate with organizations to create art events that raise awareness about the local landscape and the environment at large.
My creative process begins by connecting with my environment. I do this through close observation, immersion, and study; walking an area for extended amounts of time, learning its history and present state, and capturing, with camera or sketchbook, aspects that strike me. Back at the studio I fuse knowledge, sensory memory, sketches, and digital imagery into compositions in oil and mixed media.
In my recent Urbanscape series I use a painterly realism to evoke a sense of place and to seduce the viewer into seeing the natural beauty (existing and potential) of Gowanus, Brooklyn’s landscape and shorelines. This current work intends to promote the concept that incorporating greater swaths of nature into the built environment will improve the health and well being of communities.
In my Native & Non-Native series I zoom in on species I’ve encountered in and around my studio in NYC with the intention to call attention to the many species that inhabit our parks and streets. In doing so I hope to advocate for the nurturing of our green spaces, even those as small as a tree pit, can foster plants and wildlife in the city.
I’m currently developing a new body of work to unify the Urbanscape and Native & Non-Native concepts into a vertical format inspired by asian botanical and landscape painting. These Urbanscapes will feature natural areas throughout the five boroughs of New York City. I hope that this new format and terrain will further express harmonies between nature and the city as well as highlight the many different ecosystems and landscapes of New York City.
12”x36” Mixed Media on Canvas, 2018
10”x45”, Mixed Media on Paper, 2018
12”x12”, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2018
25”x25”, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2018