Land: Unsettled

What makes a landscape? My large-scale, monochromatic works on paper and canvas explore the influences of nature and human architecture on framing the perception of our environment. Western notions of the meaning of the word “landscape” are far from clearly defined. Is it a specific type of place, is it a point of view, or is it an idea about a space? Has the idea of what landscape is, especially in relation to the words “space” or “place,” changed since the advent of photography and the inherent compulsion to capture and frame what one sees?

In addition to exploring the idea of framing the landscape itself, my work also represents man’s impact on the landscape and the way the natural world attempts to recapture power. My work draws on ideas of the “sublime” which were popular during the Romantic era – feelings of awe and terror at such a magnificent beast as nature. How is the idea of landscape changing in the contemporary world, with the growing human population and our architectural additions working against the “natural order” of the land? Are buildings and power lines ever a part of the landscape? Elements within the works feud within themselves much in the same way nature and humanity clash with each other in the real world. Through the use of high contrast and the confusion of spatial depth and dimensional reality, the paintings and drawings explore the way in which organic form and constructed environments meet in a chaotic fight for dominance.