Statement

Through works on canvas, works on paper and installations, I explore the relationship between cognitive processes and the malleable pictorial space of abstract painting using a distilled visual language focused on geometric shapes and the primary colors. During the ideation stages, shapes are configured in such a way that the resulting compositions contain a sense of visual rhythm and fluctuating figure ground relationships. Once established, I develop ways to disrupt these compositions to create an even more complex, puzzle-like network of relationships; variations are then articulated over the course of a series of works. In the process of painting, each shape is built-up layer by layer using thin washes of transparent paint, starting with grey then moving from less saturated to more saturated color, giving each shapes color a unique optical blend and sense of luminosity. The resulting active pictorial space has led me to using the title Frik-Shuhn, named after the phonetic spelling of the word friction, as a descriptive base for my paintings to allude to the dynamic tension created by this interaction of shape and color. There are several different established and developing series under the Frik-Shuhn umbrella, each with an additional title alluding to something I feel is embodied in the work. Supplemental titles include Compass, Broken Chord, Wiggle and most recently Syncopation. Drawing from the rich history of abstraction as well as the multi-faceted nature of human perception, my paintings operate in a meditative space where pragmatism meets subjectivity, coalescing in a way that is both strikingly immediate and deceptively nuanced.

Winter, 2022