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How did your career in fine art begin?
I hated art class in high school and to be honest, I didn’t think about painting between the ages of 16 and 26. Then, the world slowed down for a bit (2020) and I, on a whim, went to the art store with my Mom. That evening I tried painting in the garage for the first time in 10 years. Time totally faded away and I was hooked. 6 years later, I now have the greatest job in the world and I am so grateful every day.
Tell us about your latest collection that was recently on view at Colbo! What was the inspiration behind that curation of pieces?
It’s inspiring and challenging to create a body of work knowing that it will live in a non-traditional, non-white box gallery space. Colbo Next Door has these signature stainless steel walls, the bar is at an intimate scale, and dim lighting. These elements acted as guides (and perhaps some creative constraint) when creating the show. I was so excited about the show that I ended up painting almost twice the amount of work needed for the show. My sweet wife, Mollie, did the final curation of works for the space.
While creating this body of work, I’m not sure I was consciously thinking of these constraints (I don’t think very much at all when I paint). But I embraced much more negative space than in the past, and the mark-making was more sparse. Knowing that the pieces would be sitting in such close proximity to each other, I wanted them to whisper a bit more than my previous work.
The exhibition has been such a hit that I am proud to say it will become a permanent fixture in the space. As works find new homes I will replace them, so make sure to stop by Colbo Next Door if you’re in the LES.
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What’s your favorite part about the New York creative community?
To live in Brooklyn is to be surrounded by wildly diverse creatives, at every turn there’s some new inspiration. I’ve had a cool cohort of fellow self-taught artists (all whom are far more successful than I am!) come together in the last year. Being an artist can be really isolating but our willingness to support one another has been encouraging and comforting. It helps me to feel like I’m not just “shouting into the void” with my work.
We love how expressive and intuitive your paintings feel. Do you have a playlist or specific environment you create, to get in the mood to begin a piece?
Thank you so much! I almost exclusively paint at night. I have found I need to feel totally alone to create my best work.
Music is essential and even though I am alone I use headphones. Weird, I know. I think there’s a bit of “dance like no one’s watching” to my practice. Music-wise I always listen to full albums, often on repeat. Snail Mail, Daniel Caesar, Bon Iver, and controversially, Zach Bryan, have been in my rotation lately.
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Do you have an all-time favorite painting that you've created?
My favorite piece is really the next one, but the piece that means the most to me is a large scale work I showed at my show last September at the P. Johnson showroom in Soho, called “Grandma’s Jade Ring”.
A month before the show I ruptured my achilles (don’t recommend!) and I found myself very behind and figuring out how to paint on a knee scooter. I managed to pull it all together in the end and this piece was the final one completed before the show.
The large canvas was completed in one night. Start to finish. It just poured out of me. When I looked at the piece the next morning the color was identical to my Grandma Olive’s jade ring that she wore every day. She had passed away the year prior and it felt like she was just saying “hey, I’ve got you”.
Now the piece hangs proudly in our apartment. Not for sale! Not ever!
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