Artist statement:
Dangling and jerking from a tree in my backyard is the freshly flayed corpse of a deer from my brother’s recent hunt. In night’s vacant blackness it has a supernatural crimson glow. I utilize classical glazing techniques juxtaposed with contemporary inorganic pigments to attain the desired luminosity and intensity that is seared in my memory. The paradoxical relationship of content and materiality is essential to me as a painter. I objectify the grotesque with a transcendental elegance. The carcass is the vessel of the soul. Their lyrical effortlessness is procedurally seamless, intended to suggest the ephemeral nature of the South. Inspiration is further filtered through art historical images of slaughter and game, as well as Francis Bacon’s portraiture. I often wonder about the South’s obsession with death, if days gone by existed at all. This visceral series is not for the faint of heart.
Title: One-String
Materials: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 58x38
Date: 2011
Price: NFS
