Your work, much like the work we do at Flash Flood, is heavily process-oriented. Can you describe your process to us? How do you begin when starting a new work?
Conceptually, color selection is the key component in my artistic process. I associate colors with emotions, and from that perspective, I carefully choose a dominant color for my piece and then add shades that will either enhance or diminish the initial sentiment. Using tools to both add and extract the painted sections, I allow my work to evolve into its own character, building on an approachable and layered tonal expression.
How did you discover this process?
I initially discovered my process from applying multiple pigments to a polymer clay rolling pin and firmly pushing the pin down the length of a piece of paper. Over time I mastered new tools that would penetrate the paper but left no visible strokes.
What drew you to this particular way of working?
My work stemmed from poetry and how I had interacted with poetry and words throughout my life. I hoped the viewer would interpret and connect each layer in my work to a personal feeling or idea, similar to a poem.
I’ve been loving your “what’s a study” collection - seeing your work on a new scale and the experiments with marker has been super fun to watch. What materials would you like to work with in the future? Will you continue to play with scale? How do you see your work evolving?
While working as a custom framer in LA, I had access to new materials I had never worked with before, and from the scraps I collected, I began working on a new study series titled, whats a study. The studies consisted of minimal line drawings using brush pens and matboard. This was the first time I had included new mediums into my professional artwork, which sparked my interest in other mediums that could achieve a similar feel to my specific technique. In the future, I would like to work with hand-dyed paper, watercolor, and plaster.
About a year ago you relocated to LA from Tulsa, can you describe how the environment has changed or influenced your work? Ex: color palette and texture changes, more experimental, etc
Since relocating to Los Angeles, I've been experimenting with new mediums and a broader color palette while choosing more sustainable options for pigments and art supplies. I've also picked up film photography and use the images I've shot as inspiration for most of my recent abstract landscapes.
We know that you just sent off a collection of work for an upcoming exhibit. Tell us a bit about the work, the process, and where people can see the exhibit.
My most recent work is influenced by the malleability of memory; how it can fade, and be altered over time. How our own stories begin to develop our past into what we want and think we know to be real. The intangible memories of our lives exist to create our personal history as we collect our truths, which tend to be based solely on perspective. The series manipulates color to show the progression of memory fading; using vibrant color to express vivid memory and then altering and fading the palette. My most recent collection is currently showing at Sager Braudis Gallery in Columbia, Missouri throughout August.
print photographs by Caty Smith, headshot by Avery Klein