Artist Statement (2019-Present)
In creating my art, I validate my identity, my lands, and my upbringing through using them as parts of a recipe for an artistic soup that I brew together with humor, reality, and surreal elements. These boil together to form the finished artworks in multiple mediums that portray issues that plague these areas and the people that inhabit these landscapes. Often, my mood dictates how negative or positive the works may be, but the romanticism and heart exists in all of them that dilutes my emotions toward “home” no matter how complicated these may be. My art exists as part of my identity while also expressing it in multiple formats for the audience to relate, laugh, or commiserate with as needed.
The overarching theme begins with my southern identity. In the past, I’ve created works that inhabit both a series I called “the boiz” and watercolors with Southern Gothic tendencies that displayed elements such as absentee lovers, thieves, addicts, and murderers. The works explored southern masculinity, emotions, addictions, ignorance, and the general well-being of men in the south. These were rooted in the men I grew up around, men who smoked cigarettes with half their tongue missing, drank from bottles after losing weight and livers, and men who bit noses and ears for bologna slices. The work featured satire and humor using logos that attracted these men, beer labels, stickers, etc. as well as the color schemes also. The work begged the questions through humor and confrontation, “Can we as southern men do better, or are we damned to ignorance and early deaths?” I still question what the answer is.
My work now has evolved into two series involving printmaking and drawing. For my prints, the works are illustrative and relate to headlines, stories, or moods of the south while still confronting issues through humor and satire. Gators eating meth pipes, turtles as beer coasters, astronauts discovering mutated crawfish, and Dachshunds partying at Mardi Gras get to the meat of my states problems. Tourism and trash, drug addictions, oil in the ocean all seen through the lens of the surreal and satirical. My illustrative work displays only a page of an unknown comic. We do not know the beginning, nor the end, we only see a glimpse of the middle. We, as the audience, fill in the rest. These, like the watercolors, expand on the Southern Gothic scenario and are the next evolution (owing homage to authors like Larry Brown and Harry Crews) to become more serious and dark in paneling these works.
In conclusion, my work exists to exorcise issues that plague my thoughts, memories, and sleep as well as purge my own identity. The way I do so is through art that emphasizes use of graphic techniques and humor through the satirical and surreal. In doing so, I hope to reach a wide audience that might relate to the works and be able to do so while sharing a laugh with another or even a tear if need be.
Bless This Mess (2016-2019) Statement:
“It’s okay for you to call it brutal, but just admit, by god, that it’s honest.”
- Larry Brown
Big guns, Red meat, Stale cigarettes, Countless churches, Cheap beer, and Southern Pride, all elements of the environment encasing me in my formative years growing up in a small farming town in northeastern Louisiana. Once these individual components have been stirred up and coagulate together, they form the stereotypical stew for Southern identity often propagated by countless forms of media, and sadly, also often true in the case of the inhabitants of my hometown. Living in this desolate area proved to be an uphill battle for individuals that identified as alternative, and due to my differences with the overwhelming majority in the town, it often felt like a daily combat scenario to not only avoid hereditary addictions, diseases, and ignorance, but also to avoid being the target in the cross hairs for those who didn’t approve of individuality.
I took solace in comic books, video games, film, and music. These were the basis for most of my early influences and helped me carve out a voices. My work took on a humorous and confrontational demeanor influenced by comedians like Bill Hicks and George Carlin, while being angry and satirical like the albums of GWAR and the Dead Kennedys. I realized most art I encountered didn’t really strike me because it didn’t come close to telling my story. Eventually, I realized I needed to tell that story, similar to those I would find in a book by Larry Brown or Rick Bragg, songs by Terry Allen, or the films of Harmony Korine. Southern Art was always presented as naive folk art and often looked down upon by the elite in the experiences I had. I then decided it was time to create work based on my identity and to challenge this notion of what “Southern Art” could be by pushing the idea of a “print” even further by incorporating sculptures and installations into my work as a printmaker.
In creating this body of work I first decided it was time to confront my identity as a white, southern male and the various areas of my life that are affected by that same identity I was born into. In doing so, I chose to use humor as a veil to hide the reality I combat in my art, so the audience can approach the art with with a smile and a laugh. Then, I feel it is up to the audience to pull back the skin of the art and view the flesh underneath, the harsh reality, and the vulgar truth of what I am presenting. Yet, as much as the art is meant for the audience to ruminate on, it is just as much a personal exorcism of my own experiences from my youth up until the present year. The men I often carve, paint, or print are examples of what I call “The Alpha Redneck.” The artistic representation of the men who valued brawn over brains, hurled sexist, racist, and homophobic comments as easily as punches, reveled in misinformation and arrogance, and laughed at bad health. I often describe the work as confrontational and cathartic for this reason, especially for those who have shared similar experiences.
While there is a power dynamic at play within the context of this work, particularly between myself and the men I’ve focused on, there is a romanticism for what would be called “home”. I am worried, and I am passionate, as the lack of healthcare and education can only help to continue contributing to willful ignorance and countless deaths due to addictions that lead to diabetes, heart failure, drunk driving, and cancer. There is a toxic, masculine, and nihilistic attitude in these small towns that echo the idea there is no chance for escape, and combined with media presence and a small window to fit in, these attributes often become the guidelines for the “proper self” in these towns. Oddly enough, finding a way out and presenting yourself as anything different means painting a target on your back.
I am here to present the truths I encountered in my small-town, poverty stricken culture and the small-town Southern white male. I allow viewers a glimpse into a deconstructed, amplified view of the world I grew up in, while giving them a front row seat to the power dynamic and the struggle between myself and the “Alpha Redneck” tendencies. I welcome the audience into this world based on memories to reminisce, to laugh, or to gain a better understanding of this fringe culture based on men emulating a constructed identity, and the pitfalls created by our society must be avoided by those who grow up in these areas. Just remember, watch your step or you might knock over their beer.
“Bless their little hearts”
- Every Southern woman in my life
In creating my art, I validate my identity, my lands, and my upbringing through using them as parts of a recipe for an artistic soup that I brew together with humor, reality, and surreal elements. These boil together to form the finished artworks in multiple mediums that portray issues that plague these areas and the people that inhabit these landscapes. Often, my mood dictates how negative or positive the works may be, but the romanticism and heart exists in all of them that dilutes my emotions toward “home” no matter how complicated these may be. My art exists as part of my identity while also expressing it in multiple formats for the audience to relate, laugh, or commiserate with as needed.
The overarching theme begins with my southern identity. In the past, I’ve created works that inhabit both a series I called “the boiz” and watercolors with Southern Gothic tendencies that displayed elements such as absentee lovers, thieves, addicts, and murderers. The works explored southern masculinity, emotions, addictions, ignorance, and the general well-being of men in the south. These were rooted in the men I grew up around, men who smoked cigarettes with half their tongue missing, drank from bottles after losing weight and livers, and men who bit noses and ears for bologna slices. The work featured satire and humor using logos that attracted these men, beer labels, stickers, etc. as well as the color schemes also. The work begged the questions through humor and confrontation, “Can we as southern men do better, or are we damned to ignorance and early deaths?” I still question what the answer is.
My work now has evolved into two series involving printmaking and drawing. For my prints, the works are illustrative and relate to headlines, stories, or moods of the south while still confronting issues through humor and satire. Gators eating meth pipes, turtles as beer coasters, astronauts discovering mutated crawfish, and Dachshunds partying at Mardi Gras get to the meat of my states problems. Tourism and trash, drug addictions, oil in the ocean all seen through the lens of the surreal and satirical. My illustrative work displays only a page of an unknown comic. We do not know the beginning, nor the end, we only see a glimpse of the middle. We, as the audience, fill in the rest. These, like the watercolors, expand on the Southern Gothic scenario and are the next evolution (owing homage to authors like Larry Brown and Harry Crews) to become more serious and dark in paneling these works.
In conclusion, my work exists to exorcise issues that plague my thoughts, memories, and sleep as well as purge my own identity. The way I do so is through art that emphasizes use of graphic techniques and humor through the satirical and surreal. In doing so, I hope to reach a wide audience that might relate to the works and be able to do so while sharing a laugh with another or even a tear if need be.
Bless This Mess (2016-2019) Statement:
“It’s okay for you to call it brutal, but just admit, by god, that it’s honest.”
- Larry Brown
Big guns, Red meat, Stale cigarettes, Countless churches, Cheap beer, and Southern Pride, all elements of the environment encasing me in my formative years growing up in a small farming town in northeastern Louisiana. Once these individual components have been stirred up and coagulate together, they form the stereotypical stew for Southern identity often propagated by countless forms of media, and sadly, also often true in the case of the inhabitants of my hometown. Living in this desolate area proved to be an uphill battle for individuals that identified as alternative, and due to my differences with the overwhelming majority in the town, it often felt like a daily combat scenario to not only avoid hereditary addictions, diseases, and ignorance, but also to avoid being the target in the cross hairs for those who didn’t approve of individuality.
I took solace in comic books, video games, film, and music. These were the basis for most of my early influences and helped me carve out a voices. My work took on a humorous and confrontational demeanor influenced by comedians like Bill Hicks and George Carlin, while being angry and satirical like the albums of GWAR and the Dead Kennedys. I realized most art I encountered didn’t really strike me because it didn’t come close to telling my story. Eventually, I realized I needed to tell that story, similar to those I would find in a book by Larry Brown or Rick Bragg, songs by Terry Allen, or the films of Harmony Korine. Southern Art was always presented as naive folk art and often looked down upon by the elite in the experiences I had. I then decided it was time to create work based on my identity and to challenge this notion of what “Southern Art” could be by pushing the idea of a “print” even further by incorporating sculptures and installations into my work as a printmaker.
In creating this body of work I first decided it was time to confront my identity as a white, southern male and the various areas of my life that are affected by that same identity I was born into. In doing so, I chose to use humor as a veil to hide the reality I combat in my art, so the audience can approach the art with with a smile and a laugh. Then, I feel it is up to the audience to pull back the skin of the art and view the flesh underneath, the harsh reality, and the vulgar truth of what I am presenting. Yet, as much as the art is meant for the audience to ruminate on, it is just as much a personal exorcism of my own experiences from my youth up until the present year. The men I often carve, paint, or print are examples of what I call “The Alpha Redneck.” The artistic representation of the men who valued brawn over brains, hurled sexist, racist, and homophobic comments as easily as punches, reveled in misinformation and arrogance, and laughed at bad health. I often describe the work as confrontational and cathartic for this reason, especially for those who have shared similar experiences.
While there is a power dynamic at play within the context of this work, particularly between myself and the men I’ve focused on, there is a romanticism for what would be called “home”. I am worried, and I am passionate, as the lack of healthcare and education can only help to continue contributing to willful ignorance and countless deaths due to addictions that lead to diabetes, heart failure, drunk driving, and cancer. There is a toxic, masculine, and nihilistic attitude in these small towns that echo the idea there is no chance for escape, and combined with media presence and a small window to fit in, these attributes often become the guidelines for the “proper self” in these towns. Oddly enough, finding a way out and presenting yourself as anything different means painting a target on your back.
I am here to present the truths I encountered in my small-town, poverty stricken culture and the small-town Southern white male. I allow viewers a glimpse into a deconstructed, amplified view of the world I grew up in, while giving them a front row seat to the power dynamic and the struggle between myself and the “Alpha Redneck” tendencies. I welcome the audience into this world based on memories to reminisce, to laugh, or to gain a better understanding of this fringe culture based on men emulating a constructed identity, and the pitfalls created by our society must be avoided by those who grow up in these areas. Just remember, watch your step or you might knock over their beer.
“Bless their little hearts”
- Every Southern woman in my life
Swamp Thangs (2014-2015) Statement:
The prints included in this series are documents obtained from the Louisiana government's evidence locker on the scourge known as "Swamp Thangs". Swamp Thangs are not a man-made creation, not mythical, and are not in any way related to Bigfoot of the Loch Ness Monster. They are absolutely, one hundred percent real, and are the main reason for Louisiana's coastal erosion, which is slowly devastating the state and the population. Please, do not question this at all, as the government in Louisiana would kindly appreciate you not do so. The prints are culminated using actual witness testimony (although there are no tests applied to determine the credibility of the statements, as the reality of this situation is too horrific to waste time on such things) and thus show the true nature of these foul creatures wreaking havoc on our society, and in no way do they mirror our own contemporary culture. Thank you for your concern citizen, and may God save us all.
The prints included in this series are documents obtained from the Louisiana government's evidence locker on the scourge known as "Swamp Thangs". Swamp Thangs are not a man-made creation, not mythical, and are not in any way related to Bigfoot of the Loch Ness Monster. They are absolutely, one hundred percent real, and are the main reason for Louisiana's coastal erosion, which is slowly devastating the state and the population. Please, do not question this at all, as the government in Louisiana would kindly appreciate you not do so. The prints are culminated using actual witness testimony (although there are no tests applied to determine the credibility of the statements, as the reality of this situation is too horrific to waste time on such things) and thus show the true nature of these foul creatures wreaking havoc on our society, and in no way do they mirror our own contemporary culture. Thank you for your concern citizen, and may God save us all.
I Named My Baby AC/DC (2014) Statement:
I grew up in a small town with eight hundred people living in it, as I remember. Nowadays, it seems to have more folks, possibly thanks to a brand new McDonalds and Wal-Mart to accentuate the lone Sonic and many churches and banks. I now know that within five minutes of being back in my home town, I'm sure to encounter at least one greasy mullet and possibly some of the finest vanity bumper stickers one could lay their eyes on. I myself, grew up with a fond love for the absurdity that was available readily in the nineties in comic books, video games, and cartoons. It took me many years later to look towards reality and notice the absurd in my daily life. I wondered how many of us actually are aware of these moments? The absolutely oddball, off the wall experiences that permeate small town living, the characters that inhabit it's environment, and the warped sense of "normality". These all coalesced together and sank a hook into my interest and wouldn't let go.
I decided to create my own small town environment, one influenced by my collected memories and the constant influx of new moments that I encounter to this day. Juxtaposition of characters and the settings created a social narrative that whispered of class divides, gentrification, police paranoia, and other factors that are often kept quiet in small town life. Warped sensibilities of space and size gave off an unsettling emotion, as the humor gave way to an uncomfortable sense of familiarity. The viewer can combine the experience of the installation with their own personal lives and form unique connections as the subtle nuances begin to equate to a bigger story that allows one to peek into the cracks and see the true story.
I grew up in a small town with eight hundred people living in it, as I remember. Nowadays, it seems to have more folks, possibly thanks to a brand new McDonalds and Wal-Mart to accentuate the lone Sonic and many churches and banks. I now know that within five minutes of being back in my home town, I'm sure to encounter at least one greasy mullet and possibly some of the finest vanity bumper stickers one could lay their eyes on. I myself, grew up with a fond love for the absurdity that was available readily in the nineties in comic books, video games, and cartoons. It took me many years later to look towards reality and notice the absurd in my daily life. I wondered how many of us actually are aware of these moments? The absolutely oddball, off the wall experiences that permeate small town living, the characters that inhabit it's environment, and the warped sense of "normality". These all coalesced together and sank a hook into my interest and wouldn't let go.
I decided to create my own small town environment, one influenced by my collected memories and the constant influx of new moments that I encounter to this day. Juxtaposition of characters and the settings created a social narrative that whispered of class divides, gentrification, police paranoia, and other factors that are often kept quiet in small town life. Warped sensibilities of space and size gave off an unsettling emotion, as the humor gave way to an uncomfortable sense of familiarity. The viewer can combine the experience of the installation with their own personal lives and form unique connections as the subtle nuances begin to equate to a bigger story that allows one to peek into the cracks and see the true story.
Social Medium and MEME Series (2013) Statement:
Humanity, as a whole, is my constant inspiration. I come into contact with ideas through daily observation and life, which can include conversations, news articles, and as of late, social media. The imagery often includes topical references to corrupt politics and religious authority, sexism, and racism; human sexuality and body image; and the loss of humanity's empathy toward itself. Often, these depictions are juxtaposed with text that subverts the emotions displayed in the imagery to relate to the information age in which honesty and compassion has begun to give way to a sardonic popularity contest. The public then becomes an audience to this personal perspective of the United State's societies steady state of decay presented in an unabashed visual medium.
Once an idea is developed from witnessing events, an internal dialogue is developed and consideration into which form of printmaking to use to produce the final image I envision. Currently, I am using relief, which consists of using gouges to carve away at the material, in this case linoleum, and afterwards the material left forms an image by inking and printing the surface. The process can be tedious and time consuming, as one must be careful not to take away too much, or ruin the image. This meticulous method of working allows for a greater connection between the artwork and myself.
I created large scale horizontal linocuts that were printed and placed together on a wall. While working on the imagery, I realized the visual depictions of food, objects, and people with dialogue resembled the online world of social media, and thus, decided that placing them with each other might mimic the layout and photos placed in the online world. The imagery is highly satirical and cartoonish in it's portrayal of these figures and objects and displays them in their most negative and primitive states. I have taken inspiration from actual words and photos, and cast these subjects in a humorous and also negative light.
The art that I create introduces the public to circumstances I observe and for some, situations they may have never encountered. This creates pathways to dialogue which could prompt considerations to changing future behavior or thoughts in their own lives, or others perhaps. Simultaneously, these works also challenge my own thoughts and actions as well. The artwork aims to provide new possibilities to view contemporary American society and its inhabitants in an affirming view.