New Work
I think it was 2008 or 2009 that I noticed that everything at the grocery store was "enrobed" in chocolate. Not "dipped" or "dunked" or simply "covered" anymore, now everything had this great, fanciful word attached to it. Enrobed. The word just stuck around in my mind for a while. What else was enrobed and why?
The first painting in the series came from an old upholstered couch that someone had put in their backyard and used all summer long. Fall, then winter came and one day it snowed and a perfect, unmarred blanket of snow fell on that couch. It looked like you could lift it up and sleep under it. It was enrobed. It was beautiful. When people ask me what my show is about, I say, "it's things covered by things." Things can be covered by accident (like the sidewalk in Tears of a Spiderman), but sometimes it's to protect (Birthday Cake), to keep warm (the snuggly baby in Pushing a Stroller in the Street). Sometimes it's to repair, or maintain (Roofers). Sometimes it's for comfort, for pleasure (Too Hot, The Swimmer) or for privacy (the little pink robe in Waiting) or surprise (Present) or for vanity (Dye Job). Sometimes it's to hide something a little bit naughty (Boys Smoking a Joint). Sometimes whole places and people can be enrobed in darkness (Paletas, Drunk Bike Ride), or like in the hammock painting, blissfully enrobed in nature.
When I made the Boys Smoking a Joint painting I saw them huddled in a circle and knew immediately what they were doing though I never did see the joint. I asked them if I could make a painting of them and they very graciously recreated the pose for me. I told them about my show coming up and said that usually when you have an idea, the first couple versions of it aren't that good, but the longer you stick with it, the stranger and more interesting versions of it start to come forward. What happens when you take an absurd idea and just keep going with it? Take it as far as you can?
One of my favorite books is Baron In The Trees. It's about a boy who climbs a tree to evade punishment from his parents and never comes down. That's the whole book. He lives his whole life up there. It's wonderful. I won't spoil the ending for you if you haven't read it, but it's a perfect ending. The last painting in the series is a grave. As of this writing, I haven't finished it yet. But it seemed like a fitting end. It's a thing covered by a thing and a grave seems like it does the same thing as a painting. It's a rectangle that says I once existed and if you happened to have known me you'll know that there is more to it than that.