Portfolio > There Is A War

Working a large canvas as though it is a protracted military campaign, I strategize, maneuver, and fight to control territory. As the work progresses I remain ever vigilant for moments of completion: some figures are completed with my first mark, whereas others require meticulous layering of thin, transparent glazes to achieve the requisite color and surface. Their lurid, intense color and moments of drawing showing through transparent paint cannot entirely obscure the fact that my process has much in common with the most traditional techniques of Renaissance oil painting: thin, transparent glazes create deep, rich darks against solid, opaque highlights generally laid on top. Often I scumble opaque white acrylic gesso over a glaze of color to bring an area forward as a stark, chalky pallor, which stands in vivid contrast to an area of vivid luminosity.

There Is A War I
Acrylic on Canvas
156" x 72"
2006
There Is A War I (detail)
Acrylic on canvas
2006
There Is A War (detail 2)
Acrylic on canvas
2006
There Is A War II
Acrylic on canvas
180" x 72"
2006
There Is A War II (detail)
Acrylic on canvas
2006
There Is A War II (detail 2)
Acrylic on canvas
2006