The Accursed Share
The Accursed Share invites viewers to consider the precarious status of the body in the Information Age and how somatic anxieties resulting from the pervasive effects of digitization and globalization animate the often contradictory yearnings for human connection and transcendence. Fashioned in the lost medieval technique of gilded pastework, a costly and labor-intensive method of embellishing sacred paintings with ornamental relief, these jewel-like abstractions translate an historical symbol of the celestial into a contemporary metaphor of the virtual. The reflective surface of each piece activates the inherently virtual space of mirrors, addressing itself to an embodied spectator yet one whose technologically mediated experiences embed them within global networks of exchange.
Byzantine General, gesso pastiglia with 24 kt gold on wood, 4 x 3 inches
The Accursed Share, gesso pastiglia with 22 kt gold on wood, 4 x 4 inches
Deepfake, gesso pastiglia with 24 kt gold on wood, 4 x 4 inches
Sun Baby, gesso pastiglia with 24 kt gold on wood, 3 x 3 inches
Travels in Ithaca
Travels in Ithaca is an experimental series of site-responsive EMDR Visual Aids that transform domestic and institutional interiors into healing environments for wounded combat veterans. Inspired by the controversial Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy method pioneered by psychoanalyst Francine Shapiro, this work merges modern psychotraumatology with the discipline of environmental design and the principles of early 20th century abstraction. A solo show and panel discussion debuting ground-breaking MRI imaging from the UT Center for BrainHealth was presented at SMU’s Hawn Gallery in 2016. Key examples of this work were subsequently published in New American Paintings Issue120.
EMDR Visual Aid (Odysseus Transfixed on the Spear of Telegonus), oil on linen and wood mounted to wall, 56 x 56 inches.
Phaeacian Dream, oil on linen, 60 x 48 inches
EMDR Visual Aid (Cognition in Space No. 24), watercolor on paper, 6 x 8 inches.
Las Manos Negras
Las Manos Negras was a social justice project addressing an epidemic of wage theft and workplace violence affecting migrant workers in East Dallas. LMN offered paid collaboration, free wage remittance services, translation, and transportation to project participants. LMN ran from 2011-13, generating a mobile archive of Spanish-language testimonies and documents that was installed at Eastfield College’s Gallery 219 in October 2012. LMN was supported by The Idea Fund, a Texas re-granting initiative of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Project partners included Catholic Charities, Workers Defense Project, and the Plano Day Labor Center.
