above: Even Suburbia has Cosmic Roots? (detail), mixed media on panel, 2005. left: Imprint Route (detail), mixed media on panel, 2001. right: Insistent Musings series, pen and marker on vellum, 2004; Cosmic Muck Perspective (detail), mixed media on panel, 2005.

As conceptual maps, each work is a window onto the world—acting as slice of an ongoing evolution larger than itself. My interest in exploring ideas of the sublime via seemingly simplistic means has lead me to artists such as Jonathan Lasker, Agnes Martin, Terry Winters, Matthew Ritchie, Vija Clemens, and more recently Brice Marden, Amy Sillman, Hanne Darboven, and Helen Frankenthaler.

I present my work through a traditional medium, however the way I approach it is interdisciplinary. I frequently use digital applications, collage and photography as tools to explore and produce my work. My dedication to painting is rooted in the belief that the experience of painting is essential because it is not mediated through a middleman. Our society gives the illusion of familiarity and connection through image saturation and virtual contact while pure tactile experience is rare. The direct physical experience of painting has potential to be a microcosm of the experience of our reality.

Fibonacci Series #2, mixed media on panel, 2002.

above: Macro Bird's Eye View #1 & #2, mixed media on canvas, 2005.

I was born in the small rural community of Vinton, Iowa where things seem to grow from every crack and people discuss the weather with sincerity. I received my BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and moved to New York City in August of 2001. I make paintings and drawing but also am an administrator in the Department of Photography & Imaging, NYU.