March 8 - April 18, 2003                                         

I make fluorescent and metallic paintings of bubbly, oozing excess. They are paintings of candy coating made on surfaces collected from the streets. The paintings most obviously reference candy and all things sweet: ice cream sundaes, cotton candy, bubble gum, whipped cream. Its been said that its not a sundae until there is a cherry placed on top and most of my paintings have at least one cherry. The newest paintings employ thickly layered and splattered paint, which looks like frosting or melted ice cream (with BBs and beads as sprinkles). They are later outlined with a fine brush in pink or purple. I've abandoned the black line because of its hard edge and cartoon connotations. The paintings should overwhelm the viewer.

Found metal (in the form of sheet metal, signs and flattened spray cans) is great surface to paint on. Especially with spray cans, graffiti is an obvious reference. Shapes and stylistic embellishments point straight back to graffiti. Graffiti is, and points to, candy-coating of various kinds. Any landscape of Los Angeles should have graffiti in it. Physically, and theoretically, it belongs here. These paintings are portraits of a city that has long been associated with glamour, glitz, image and unreality. It has always been undeniably glossy and shallow.

Los Angeles is also home to the porn industry. The same shapes that make up the sundaes also reference breasts, nipples, vaginas and semen. The mounds don't just ooze, they lactate and ejaculate. Again, cotton candy and strawberry ice cream are not the only reasons for using so much pink paint.