I Am The First & I Am The Last - Limited Edition of 10 Photograph

In veiled and covert ways my photo art explores what we buy, what we buy into, and how we are led by a culture of artful sellers. My projects examine the collision of the American Dream with our humanity—to better understand who we are, who we've been, and who we are becoming. My photo art technique is a continuation of the tradition that began with collage. Where once artists gathered all their materials from disparate sources and were limited by availability and physicality, 21st century technology and the world wide web have lifted these restraints. I interweave hundreds if not thousands of sourced elements into into my work to assemble worlds from a labyrinth of parts. My practice is like adhesive-free collage making on anabolic steroids. My artistic goal is to lure my audience with intricate appeal and then upon closer inspection, to assault with disquieting content. My work is an inquiry into how we might come to terms with the frictions of our discomforts and disillusionment as a way to understanding, and perhaps transcending, our hypocrisies and our blindness within the contemporary world. Illumination is the fundamental motif for a long-term project that I began in 2014. I have completed three bodies of work under that umbrella: Postulates, Manifestos, and Devotionals. Advancing the Illumination theme, I have initiated three new series: Anthropologies, Quandaries, and Vessels. As with all my series, my goal is to evoke thought and viewer discussion. I’ve been printing on Endura Metallic chromogenic paper, my 21st century nod to gilding. I find its iridescent finish and rich metallic appearance catch the eye and give depth to my themes of Illumination and human self-reflection. But gilded is not golden. Gilded has a sense of a patina covering something else. It’s the shiny exterior to the decay underneath.