New Collection: "Girl"

"Girl"     24" x18" x 5"
Gouache and High Voltage electricity
on corrugated fiberboard

This is the most recent piece I've done and it feels like it could be the end of this collection.

The painting started off with a stamp I found in a bargain bin at an art store. Amongst random fruit shapes and letters I found a script word "Girl". At first, backwards and upside down, it almost looked like kanji to me: a specific type of japanese calligraphy. Immediately I thought about the significance of the stamp in japanese culture, how a painting's worth was often determined by the people who had owned and signed it (through stamps).

How is a thing changed by the labels and signs we use to explain, define, and classify it? What about a person?

Here the tension and emotion created by the top layer which has been electrocuted repeatedly is intensified by a polyurethane coating, increasing the reflectivity and creating an almost shell-like appearance.

The figure in the center, created by the revealed bottom red layer which has been coated in layers of poly-acrylic resin, ink, and salt crystals, is actually the recurring "girl" stamp pattern which has been inverted, outlined, and splattered with paint. Again, what remains primary is the highlighting of natural, stylistic elements through outline and color contrast.