Greatest Hits - Artist Statement

Growing up in the 80s, my days were spent watching action movies. The explosion that I saw as an intoxicating background for Rambo, the Terminator, and Die Hard, progressively became a more common visual in everyday media. What was initially appreciated, as a rarity created by special effects became an aesthetic experience with political and social consequences.

I experienced the work of the Abstract Expressionists in a similar way. At first, the amazing material effects of "Action Painting" struck me. The immediate overall sensation of a Pollock or a Rothko would shock and awe while overwhelming the senses. For me, titles such as "The Deep," "Full Fathom Five," or "The Omen and the Eagle" reflected grandeur in naming similar to "Die Harder" or "First Blood." The muscled brushstroke of a Franz Kline or DeKooning had the same grit and determination of any number of heroic action icons played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In both cases, however, after the initial burst of visual pleasure, the smoke would clear, allowing for reflection on political consequences. Why weren’t there any female action heroes? Why were only white men allowed fame in front of the explosion? What aesthetic did the Abstract Expressionists develop that reflected American culture? Was it indeed a visual experience of immediacy reflecting a culture's preoccupation with "an arena in which to act?"

My intention in Greatest Hits is to add the explosion into the repertoire of abstract mark making, placing the explosion into compositional strategies and alongside marks pioneered by Action and Pop painters. I offer the motif of the explosion as an alternative to the immediate and transcendent overall composition sought after by the Abstract Expressionists. The use of the explosion as a motif alongside the AbEx marks presents the political and social ideals of that time in the light of today’s political and social climate. The result is a highly charged experience that creates an unstable balance between politicized ideas and pure sensation.


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