Since the 1970s, urban landscape has been transformed into gated communities, leaving behind a collapsing interior. In the past 10 years these interiors have slowly seen a rebirth. My paintings examine how people interact within urban life, ie. gated housing communities (that is a community of homes enclosed within a perimeter with strict access), housing projects, and military housing. What’s common amongst these areas is that they are in some shape or form driven to protection from outside forces. With the rise of suburbia and the decline of small town America, cities expanded beyond their central business district at alarming rates. People are constantly looking for ways to get away from the negative aspects of the world whether by moving into gated communities or being forced into low income housing because they have no other choice.Workers are needed for the corporations, so housing is provided either by governments or the developers near they’re place of work. You could say the same for military housing as well. Not only do my paintings address issues of urban sprawl and communal living, but also I’m looking at the revitalization of urban centers throughout America.
Recently I’ve begun moving beyond negative space and filling the canvas with images of urban living and the chaos that surrounds these communities represented by expressive brush work. Architecture carves out landscapes to interact with the negative space. At the same time we sculpt landscapes to our needs and structures. I’m looking for insight into our relationship with landscapes and man made environments and to be able to articulate this into my paintings. Through my painting I want to create a chaotic world yet have some sense of order through architecture.