Repetition & Adaptations

Dual exhibit at the Art Association of Harrisburg

Harrisburg, PA

February 23rd—April 4th, 2024

What’s on display?

Most of the work in “Repetition and Adaptations” is from the last several years, including many of the paintings from my solo exhibit Patterns & Such. I chose to exploit the tall ceilings and open space at the Art Association of Harrisburg for my more recent, sizable paintings. In deciding what to show, I HAD to include the smaller sibling pieces (as I would get no sleep if they weren’t). A few other paintings, such as Paul and One Portrait, Two Artists, were hung for their contrasting portraiture style, juxtaposing the stargate-sequence-esque patterns scattered about. A little airing out for those older works would do us all some good, too.

My Materials

These works come from an array of recycled and repurposed materials. Pieces such as Future Project, Lesser Covid Painting, and A & I are all composed using shrinky dink plastic. When heated, the 8 1/2” by 11” sheets of plastic shrink about 70%, but the outcome is always inconsistent. The finished product has qualities and features that I could never anticipate, which allow me to address this reproduction in a whole new light.
Other paintings are crafted on mylar or MDF (medium density fiberboard), with frames made from wood I salvaged and constructed into geometric supports. A material unique to this exhibition in particular is the cheap, florescent soda bottles that keep my largest pieces upright. When first viewing the space, I saw that I needed to rig up a display system that would bypass the many doors and windows with minimal nails in the antique molding and floor. This structure would need to be weighed down, so I first thought of using sandbags and iron weights (too scary), then gallon jugs of water (wishy washy). I then thought of the flagrant, colorful cousins to jugs of water– cheap dollar store soda. They fit perfectly into the scheme of these current works, and were easier to move around. The only surprise was that cheap dollar store soda wasn’t cheap anymore.

Why “Repetition & Adaptations”?

For some time I have been interested in reusing and recycling material things, be it wood from the garbage or incorporating part of an old painting in a new work.  Perhaps my upbringing? Perhaps me being a parsimonious son of a gun? Anyways, I have been applying that trait of reclamation through exploring and re-exploring the same imagery and themes in my work. I have often taken the same limited group of photographic sketches and imagery and rotated, mirrored, distorted, or casted it in new media, and discovered new things. New shapes and directions that I didn’t really invent, but came upon. I find it fascinating. It is not the same thing, but I think of the John Cage quote, “ If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If it is still boring, then eight. Then Sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually, one discovers that it is not boring at all.”