Airstreams
This painting series is based on polished aluminum trailers from the mid-20th century. Inspired by amateur photographs taken by Airstream enthusiasts, each painting emphasizes the distortion visible in the highly reflective metal. In a way, the airstream imagery highlights intersections between Post-WWII aerodynamics, Art Deco design and Primitivism. These compositions create an object-ground relationship similar to animal mimicry, where the trailer hides in its surroundings through reflection. In this way, the paintings reference concepts in historical Surrealism, such as animal print camouflage, doubled imagery and formlessness. Given the degree of distortion, the metallic surface becomes an arena for hallucinatory paint forms that slip away from recognizability. The viewer is presented with the imaginary pictorial space behind them. Either the perceived vantage point is from an odd disembodied gaze, or the visible mirrored body is faceless, elongated, and in a precarious environment co-habited with the unknown.

Van Scenes
This is a painting series based on the urban scenery of Vancouver and its Eastside. Living and working in East Van, these notorious and often misunderstood neighborhoods have become a major part of my visual economy as an artist. This artwork shows the entropy of old architecture and signage, and the figures that inhabit these spaces. This work is conducted in a loose realism with particular attention paid to light. Reminiscent of the American Realist painter Edward Hopper, the artificial lighting at night or daylight’s long cast shadows work to describe the form and space of these urban environments.

Biography
I was born in 1984 and grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Brought up in a family that supported my love for drawing, at 12 I inherited a paint box and easel. From what began with an impromptu still life painting session, I moved onto a self-taught passion for the medium. To this day my artistic practice is entirely focused on painting. I graduated from Emily Carr University with a Visual Arts BFA in 2010. Utilizing this broader understanding of art history and critical theory, I work on several painting series at once, each with a distinct style and ideological context. I’m best known for my paintings based on Airstream trailers, Vancouver urban scenes, and BC forests. I work at the Glass Onion Studios 1103 Union Street and participate in the Eastside Culture Crawl annually.