"Strugglers and Stragglers," 2009–2011
20 paintings on paper

I wanted the emotion of the figure to be paramount in this group of works. To that end any reference to place, except the most rudimentary, was eliminated. Although the figures are imaginary I developed them with the conviction that actual persons were depicted. How much of observed reality they did or did not portray was immaterial. What mattered was that they had the feeling of having an inner life rooted in the lived, felt experience of today. The drained space is metaphorical refuge from an over-imaged world.

Each figure suggests a narrative told through posture, facial expression, size, and placement within the rectangle of the picture. Some are hybrid beings: their animal features give a pathetic urgency to their struggle. All bear the battered visage of a trial engaged.

There is a story I like to use to explain the relationship I feel these figures have to our shared reality: I picture someone in their daily routine, buying a coffee or metro card on their way to work, and as they do this a part of them remains on the sidewalk, alone, bemused, immoveable. That immoveable and unwanted self is the subject of this work.

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