Urban Decay

These paintings are based on my experiences living in Philadelphia. There are many derelict, abandoned row homes, abandoned lots, and modern ruins. They tell stories. You can see the outlines of where the stairs and shelves on the torn-down houses used to be by the marks they leave on the remaining buildings. Paint peels back to reveal the colors and signage that has been covered over by decades of re-painting. The paintings on panel I create in the way a building is built. I lay the bricks, constructed from the particles of actual demolished buildings. I build up and scratch down many layers of paint in a process of creative destruction. Others of this series depict my former apartment after arson rendered it uninhabitable.