The Illusion Of Control, mixed media on gesso panel
As Within, So Without
Inspired by Carl Jung’s quote, “Whatever you’re resistant to, follow it,” my paintings are a compelling study of complex social, environmental, and psychological themes. Adopting unexpected, immersive points of view, such as a cutaway of an urban golf course or an exposed patch of polluted ocean, I invite viewers to examine what lurks beneath the surface, both figuratively and literally. Existing at the confluence of three enduring passions - the natural world, the social sciences, and cinema - I offer a unique vision of humanity’s paradoxical relationship to one another and nature that playfully straddles the realm between fantasy and fact.
With time and experimentation, these passions evolved into their present form: an ongoing series of meticulously crafted acrylic paintings. Inspired in part by natural history dioramas - mixing two and three-dimensional elements into singular narrative scenes created to entice and inform - my work aims to raise awareness not only about the precarious state of our planet, but about the equally perilous state of our inner lives - the shared ‘soul’ of humanity - and how these seemingly opposed worlds are, in fact, elemental to one another.
At its core, my work doesn’t pretend to provide easy solutions to enduring dilemmas, nor does it seek to pacify our emotions with some naive measure of closure. Rather, it asks that we merely begin the process of rebuilding our world and ourselves by fearlessly facing the world’s we’ve collectively created. As the ancient aphorism reminds: “As above so below, as within so without, as the universe so the soul . . .”
