What is it?

“That kinda looks like scribbles,” my nephew said. He was right, it did look like scribbles. Some of you might get turned off from my work because it doesn’t “look realistic.” Here’s the briefest explanation I can give for my style: First, I think colors, textures, and shapes can be beautiful similar to the way classical music without words can be beautiful. Second, I need my work to communicate an open-ended concept. If I were to paint a photographic image of a horse then the painting would probably have one simple meaning: horse. But if I make a painting that incorporates predictive text, topographical images, textile designs, and the word “corporate” then the interpretations of meaning will be as varied as the people viewing the work. Those interpretations will be much more valuable than "horse."

Would you sell your neighbor a cup of sugar?

There are some things in our culture that are usually given rather than sold. One of these is basic knowledge. Knowledge is freely given. If I ask my father-in-law how to plant corn then he’ll tell me. I don’t have to pay him for that information and I would be very surprised if he asked for money. If I’m looking for the Alhambra Theatre and I ask a random Joe on the street, he’ll give me the location and he’ll probably do it happily. Does the free-sharing of knowledge have limits? What are the other things in our culture that are usually given instead of sold?

Obligated to Gift?

Think about how gifts are exchanged in our culture. Sometimes gifts are a surprise given on a random day without provocation. More often gifts are expected. I give you a present for Christmas and you feel obligated to reciprocate. You absolutely do not give me the same gift back because I might get offended. So instead you try to find something I’ll like. You might even hope that the gifts we exchange are similar in monetary value. There is an exchange of goods going on. The big difference between this and the exchange of goods that occurs when you buy something at the store is that there is no requirement to repay. So what do you think? Is there a social obligation for the receiver to return the favor? Is that the way it is supposed to be, or have we gone wrong somewhere?

Walmart

This installation is going to be a satire about our culture, but specifically about our form of commerce. I want to contrast gifting with capitalism. The first thing that came to your mind was Walmart right? Me too. So I’ve downloaded a copy of Walmart’s stock graph from the day I was born up until the present. How should I include this subject in my work? Do I just paint the graph on top of something? Do I take the values of all of the peaks from the graph and list them with their dates in columns? Or do I have a recording of someone reading Walmart’s daily closing stock value? Maybe I take the difference between Walmart’s stock value and some numerical value pulled from the United Way. I need more ideas, please help.