These Thing DO Happen Painting

A love song to all the friends I've lostAbout the series: We are all astronauts floating in space, searching out new horizons or trying to find our way back home. We feel safe in our space suits, our identities concealed, protected from the vacuum of space and guarded against hostile environments. Our journey can feel lonely, sometimes futile, but we must remain open to possibilities of new worlds and new friends who may or may not be like us. We may never find what we are looking for, but maybe the journey is the point. I began working on this series six months ago. I have always been drawn to the idea of space travel and its possibilities, and seeming impossibilities. In thinking about space travel, I also thought about our own planet, its dwindling resources and how we don’t have an alternate place to call home. There is a fantastical element to this series as I imagine us sending out a team of astronauts to search out a new place for us. Who would they meet? What would other planets look like? Would our astronauts ever return? I also thought about the archetype of the astronaut. The appeal for me is the universality. We don’t really know who is beneath the suit. It could be you, it could be me. The process: Every surface is a new conversation. I vary the opening of the conversation by building up a foundation of texture; or layers of contrasting color, each layer applied differently; or I start with a definite idea, planned with preliminary drawings, but remain open to serendipity and spontaneity. The music that fueled this series: Maurice Ravel, Fleetwood Mac, Bjork, Vampire Weekend, Justin Bieber, Victor Calderone, Claude Debussy, Junior Vasquez, Joni Mitchell, Twenty One Pilots, Danny Tenaglia, REM, Wolf Alice, Imogen Heap and Chvrches.