I make large-scale hyperrealistic oil paintings based on macro photographs I take of the paint on my palette. I will often photograph one painting’s palette as source imagery for the next painting, and so on. Thus, I disorient process and product as an approach to observational painting within the intense self-scrutiny of the information age. I take inspiration from Clement Greenberg’s concept of self-criticism; by magnifying the paint I reveal the physical attributes that allow it to trick the eye, its slick, oily surface, granules of pigment, swirls of color, and subtle transparency. By painting these details along with photographic artifacts such as lens flares, over exposure, and dramatic shifts in focus, I evolve new imagery from the distortions that occur during representation. 

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March 24th, 2014