Portrait of a species
Not lightly does the Earth forget. While life ebbs and flows, the remains tell a story. Our chapter will be told by the fossils of our cities, the marks of our materials, and our incessant recomposition of land, air, and water. It will be defined as the Human Age. An era in which anthropocentric systems have irrevocably devastated the environment which enabled such a flourishing planet. As agents of planetary transformation, we now face the inescapable quandary of relying on Earth's systems while irreparably destroying them. These artworks inhabit this tension.
To achieve self-actualization, we must reconcile our true nature in the face of our self-image. Whether we confront our existential woes or not, a radically different existence is upon us. Life as we once knew it is over, but with that comes an opportunity to reimagine the narrative. I intend my work not to be fatalistic but rather a confrontation of our operational reality.
Using primarily petroleum based products, these landscapes express the values that have birthed such a world. A potash mine manufactures crucial fertilizer presenting a portrait of an earthly stain. A gridded desert is propped on thin legs of fracking wells. Resurrected trees stand as sacrifices to the electricity we so worship. This new world is filled with humans, and human things. It is filled with memories of unsoiled nature replicated for eternity as an unfaithful simulacra. These self-portraits are vital to confront and accept, for these are our true colors.
Personal acceptance is just as important. I bury my own trash in an act of acceptance with who I am as defined by my waste. I carry the weight of my complicity in terminating the world we once knew. In an act of anger and frustration, I destroy my paintings and mix them with found trash while meditating on our inevitable return to star dust. This series speaks to the intimate human scale, which is both inconsequential in time and space and awe-inspiring in its impact.
The existential problems of this age are the same as those that have always been at the heart of what it means to be human. What values do I retain in the face of great loss? What comes next and am I ready to let go and move on?