Early Works

"The Monster" (2007). oil on canvas

There are always early works. By necessity, any story must begin.

I began with a series of 32 paintings. The first of them, many of which are destroyed, were acrylic on canvas board. The 16th, called "Fury," was the first attempt at oil, and the first on a stretched canvas. Dick Blick was phasing out a line of "staple on the sides" stretched canvases, and I bought a 10 pack at a significant discount.

"[untitled]" (2007-2010). oil on canvas

The most successful of these paintings, ultimately, was "[untitled]" (2007-2010), which went through various iterations before completion. Other works from this set, which are either missing or destroyed, include "9.c", the death painting, and "Rebirth".

Imagine an artist crafting a narrative out of their life, leading to one explicit artistic statement that encompasses the whole. Inside each of the works is some flicker of the end. 

No artist is ever able to completely shed their early works. Life story is a factor in valuing art, and an artist can consciously construct this narrative while alive. 

Your engagement with these works exists "now." This is true of all art. What continues to exist can have value, and will become meaningful from continual observation. Painted on top of a continual "now" is the object. You are always a part of it, because you are accessing it now. Any given instant in a life can serve as a symbol of now. By defining a point within the life story as the origin ("the statement"), the artist creates a circuitry. You enter a story that is void of meaning, but has an aesthetic. This is true of all symbols.

What would be the perfect symbol for the beginning of any given narrative? How would it change if, when we reach end, now it had to be the perfect symbol of "the end," as we work backwards from this new beginning, now?