Artist Statement
My work reimagines the ancient technique of buon fresco painting through a contemporary lens. While fresco was once a dominant medium in architectural spaces, its demanding process and technical complexity have made it nearly obsolete today. I'm interested in reviving this medium in ways that both honor its rich history and make it relevant to modern audiences.
By experimenting with contemporary building materials like Styrofoam and Magnesium Oxide panels, and historic fresco processes such as the "strappo" technique, I create portable buon frescoes that float off the wall that often take on modular forms, which I also use to make installations. This approach challenges the traditional boundaries of the antiquated fresco medium, making it more dynamic and adaptable to new contexts. I also push against the conventional imagery of buon fresco, which has historically been used by elite institutions to assert power and authority. In response, I’ve pioneered the use of an airbrush to apply pigment to plaster, introducing a graffiti-inspired technique that veils my subjects in layers of spray-painted abstraction. The figures I paint are deliberately elusive, reflecting my ongoing exploration of the tension between surface appearances and deeper philosophical questions about perception, identity, and existence.
My interest in the quieter technique of silverpoint drawing began while working on a large fresco mural at Van Meter Auditorium. Creating the mural was physically demanding and consisted of working 20-hour sessions with few breaks. Due to fatigue, I rested for two days between sessions. Silverpoint drawing required little physical energy and became a respite during the fresco project. Similar to graphite drawing, silver leaves a faint mark when applied to a toothy surface. The metallic residue oxidizes over time and the drawings’ cool tones shift towards warmer hues. Silverpoint resonates with me not only because of the history and rareness of the medium but also because of the thematic commonalities it shares with the larger body of my work. The stillness of silverpoint is contradicted by continual oxidation. In both painting and drawing, the visual forms I create express my curiosity about appearances and their relation to ideas of knowing and being.