The Epic Journey series is inspired by a vast vintage travel slide collection found in an Asbury Park thrift store. In this series I am making experimental paintings combining layered depictions of multiple travel locations. In layers of oil on acetate and on plexiglass panels I explore the way memories of disparate locations and experiences sometimes merge in the mind. The source materials for this series are vintage travel slides as well as contemporary landscape photos derived from Screensavers installed on PC computers. The transparency of the painting surfaces in my art work relates to the photographic process of the source materials — creating both a dissolving quality and visual uncertainty, ultimately referencing both memory and history. Like many artists before me I feel compelled to capture and contain the sublime landscape. Attempting to describe a Romantic Landscape through a 21st Century lens.
For more than 20 years I have made paintings and painting installations that reference found vernacular photographs. As I explore found color snapshots in my paintings, I am interested in both the emotional connection to and cultural impact of photo collecting. It is not my goal to copy found photos verbatim–but to impart, in my paintings my idea of what these physical objects/artifacts represented to the original owner. I gradually get to know the persons in the snapshots as well as a sense of the anonymous photographer.
