new series of assemblage paintings

after we got back from singapore i put a lot of energy into the mural in winamac, but in my off time i was busy in the studio beginning a new body of work.  we finished the mural a month ago (and have 3 more to do starting next week!).  and since then my exacto knife has been busy.

i'm often asked why i use stencils instead of just painting the image.  sometimes i'm criticized for it.  i love stencils.  i love the way they look.  i think they work well with the way i draw (all of my stencils are original drawings).  and the idea of a 'graphic' on the surface lends to the layering that i use from the beginning in building the assemblage.  i love stencils for their use in street art, but also for the way my mother used them to paint the border on the bathroom cabinets when i was a kid.  stencils are, more or less, a craft media.

this is the first body of assemblage work i've created using spray paint instead of oils.  in the past i've always brushed on, mostly single color stencils, and then colored them in.  this time, i made multi-color stencils to have a much more layered effect.  after working on the quilt in winamac, i found pattern coming into everything i was doing.  i love the idea that fabric patterns from quilts can give context without painting an actual space.  these patterns look like indiana.  they come from table clothes, curtains, and quilts.

bird cage.  another of the first ones i completed.  the tv is a light box that plugs into the wall. 

american gothic :  this is the first piece in the series that i finished.  the kids running and the 'american gothic' couple are stencils from the winamac mural.  the iphone walkers are certainly inspired by what we see regularly on campus. 

ideas are hard to swat like flies.  this painting was a struggle, as i changed so many things on it so many times.  in the end i just made it about struggling to make something.

commercial influence.  trying to talk about the effect of television on the influence of culture and economics.  the mirror is how you're involved.

the state of education.  this is one of my favorites from this body of work.  

food product.  commenting on my one of my favorite topics, GMOs and the food industry.  what exactly are we eating? i'm in the picture in the mirror, taking the picture, but i lined my head up underneath the eye-dropper on purpose.  i eat this shit too.  we all do and we should all be pissed about it.