I am currently working on a new series of paintings based on the forms and ideals of the Case Study House program in California during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. In this series, I am investigating modernism in American domestic architecture – constructed from mass-produced building materials and built for an idealized middle-class.
My Case Study paintings are made from very straightforward, basic materials, generally acrylic paint on plywood panel. I use the paint unmixed, straight out of the tube, and I deliberately leave sections of the plywood surface and support exposed. I sometimes also use iron oxide, garnet, and pumice grit, as well as clear acrylic, gouache, pencil, and masonite to make my work, where appropriate.
I tend to think I am making painted structures, rather than paintings. I am interested in engineering my work through a very rational and systematic process. I want to leave nothing to chance. In the end, a perfect work for me appears profoundly simple. It evinces an aesthetic of total efficiency.
