In preparing for my thesis, I found myself with a camera, having an image-area, a square, and the need to put something in it – but what? Well, as with making any image or photograph, I needed an interesting palette of materials to work with, that I could shape, arrange and manipulate in effort to convey those certain visceral qualities of visual communication that can not be put into words, but must be seen and experienced... I chose food.

Food products, for me, carried all of the interesting elements of color, shape, and texture that one finds with painting and collage. However, the most attractive part of the food products, was the viscous, dripping, mess that happens when you drop the materials onto the canvas. I wanted the materials to act for themselves, allowing them to naturally splash and stick to the paper, thereby bringing out a certain gestural reaction in the application process. Preparing sketches beforehand and using pre-meditated gesture, I made it a point to never manipulate the materials once they had been applied, nor did I use any brushes or additional tools. I simply grabbed the items off the shelf and extracted the materials from the bottles, jars and tubes just as the manufacturer had designed them to be used.

I wanted to have an undeniable, immediate show of color and form to assault the eyes and to stimulate an equal reaction inside the viewer -- to stir up the blood, and animate one’s feelings in the same, high-spirited light that I have grown to hold photography, art and life.

PROCESS & INSTALLATION
SEE FOOD