I am intrigued by patterns - patterns and textures of surfaces. I find myself looking for them in our visual culture, it's as if I am excavating some glimpses of memorable textures from the visual chaos that I experience every day. I remember seeing the surfaces of billboards close-up years ago when I was a billboard painter. I remember thinking of the work that someone committed to in making a huge, hand-painted sign or billboard. Billboard imagery was created quickly, and was visible only for a short period of weeks, before being painted over by another image. The surfaces were degraded and often weathered by the seasons of my local Minnesota weather. They were the surfaces of peeling paint, flaking paper postings, half-visible letterforms, and faded colors. Sometimes the paint chips had hundreds of tiny layers of color - much like the agates of Lake Superior. I remember thinking about the time that was contained in those small colorful chips - of the moments when someone decades before painted on this surface, in this space. Occasionally, I would be surprised find a small chip with pieces of different layers chipped away, revealing some strange, surprising, combination of images. I think it was then that I became aware of the expanse of time - one part of the chip from years before, and another from just last week. I also remember adding my own story to the visual geology of the billboards, I know some of the images that I painted then, still remain hidden, somewhere. I see this work being connected to those moments. I try to work a sense of layered time into these pieces and allow the viewer to experience the archaeology of viewing a fragmented piece - and the joy of discovering some unexpected connection and meaning through the work. I hope this encourages people to imagine what came before, and what may be beneath.
