In “Dembrosky, Inc.” I force expressions of nature into unnatural forms in order to contemplate the artificially-created systems that surround us and affect our experiences in this world. I do this through two bodies of work.

In the first, Weather Series, I have created a color-coded system for representing temperature and rainfall patterns in central Texas, which I hand-paint onto white, ceramic tiles using commercial-grade enamel paint.  Each painting in this series represents a full year, with each tile representing a single day. This allows the painting to be read like a book, from left to right. The two colors on the tiles indicate the ranges of high and low temperatures for that day, and glass tiles of varying blues are added to represent the level of rainfall. This process results in brightly colored, geometric patterns that, at first, may appear simply decorative. However, these patterns, dictated by the chance happenings of nature, form a highly specific visual language that allows the viewer to process large amounts of scientific data in an immediate and visceral way. 

In the second series, I challenge our relationship to the artificial environment of social institutions such as school, work, and the marketplace, questioning the effect these environments have on our innate creative drive. I do this by making large, playful paintings, which I then cut up and stack or bind with industrial materials in order to create sculptural forms that fragment and conceal the original image. For instance, in 500 Paintings Ready for Shipping, I made 500 small, expressive, ink paintings. I then put these paintings through the paper shredder and used them to fill cardboard banker’s boxes. These boxes were then placed on a pallet and wrapped with plastic-wrap in order to mimic factory processes and make reference to the global art market. Although the original paintings are still technically there, through the process of conforming to market expectations their original meaning and life force has been irrevocably destroyed.