Dressed for Work

2019

(Edinboro, Pennsylvania) 

Aluminum and acrylic paint 

I have never been particularly interested in making art about the easy things in life. I am drawn to the way we cope with challenging and sometimes compromising things. How do we deal with the conditions imposed on us, much less the conditions we impose on ourselves? These pieces are portraits of people adjusting to the conditions of their lives, for better or for worse. They are gesturally driven, drawing on the Romanesque convention of outward appearance as a reflection of an inner state of being. They were modeled directly in wax, cast in aluminum, and polychromed with artist’s acrylics, conceived from the beginning as paintings in space.