Up Close from a Distance

UBC Okanagan Visual Arts Exhibition

Hosted by the UBCO Visual Arts Course Union (UBCOVACU))

     I create large-scale paintings that depict comedic scenes of mundane every-day events. These situations are loosely based on real experiences that were unremarkable, yet they stuck in my memory because they were funny or odd and were worth sharing with the viewer. 

     My style of painting is influenced by the cartoons that I saw in books and newspapers as a kid. When I was younger, I tried to replicate them and I took cues from how they drew bodies and forms, the humour they use, and the ideas they explore. I combined these elements together into my own personal style. It is my hope that through painting I can elevate these every-day scenarios and the popular art form of cartoons into something that is engaging and could be enjoyed by the gallery patron and the comic book fan equally.

     I am specific in how I place these characters in their environments in order to find the hidden resonance that plays out in their every-day turmoil. The participants are experiencing an issue or struggle. The nature and the relative unimportance of these struggles is where the humor lies in the finished painting. In the end I want to isolate and focus on the events that all people experience and reveal the humorous qualities to make art that eases the strife that people experience in their daily lives.

CONTACT