Monochrome Paintings

I work through a controlled system of guidelines that is set by images taken from art related magazines such as Artforum and Art in America. Using these pre-existing images dictates the size of the canvas (the image’s dimensions in the magazine ‘inches’ are converted into ‘feet’), the chosen images also dictate the color palette and the initial composition as I directly paint (reproduce) the photographic image. Once the chosen image has been reproduced the paint from the surface of the canvas is then completely scraped off, removed. Next, this ‘removed’ paint is then mixed together until a solid pigment of color is achieved and then reapplied as one blanketing sheet back to the canvas. Working through this structured system of guidelines removes my hand from the creative process and allows the end result (the monochromatic painting) to be the byproduct of regimented movements. Whether the viewer sees this interaction as destruction, a palimpsest or an enhancement of the original is irrelevant. What is important to understand is that the appropriated images define the playing field for which the game is to be played. I also consider these paintings as detached collaborations between the original artist and myself through the mediated channel of the art magazine. This decision strictly allows me to only use images and/or collaborate with artists that the art community itself promotes from within.