There are two ways to look at a painting: you can focus on the image itself, or you can focus on the brushwork and see evidence of the layering and process that goes into making the image. Paint is a paradoxical material in this way, because it is the stuff that the image is made out of, but it can also get in the way of the image by making you think about its physicality and substance. I cannot help but think of these ideas about painting in relation to what it is like to look at an image on a screen. In many ways looking at a screen is the exact opposite of the experience of looking at paintings; where painting has all these reminders of its objecthood built in, the slick surface of a screen is designed to negate its physical presence, allowing the viewer to become consumed by the illusion. I see paintings as an antidote to the passive consumption of images promoted by our daily inundation with screens.
More recent my paintings have featured imagery from sports broadcasts and the culture surrounding sports fanaticism. As I’ve continued, the compositions increasingly feature more of the interior spaces surrounding the televisions on which the games are displayed. I’m interested in how I can use the interior spaces to describe the people who might be watching the game. I’ve noticed as spectator sports become more of a focus in my work, I’ve identified that I’m not interested in isolating the game in the image, but showing the whole spectacle surrounding the game.
Given what a huge portion of pop culture is devoted to sports, it is strange that it is not a subject addressed more frequently in contemporary art. I’ve come to think that the reason for this isn’t so much that there aren’t artists making work about the sports, but rather that there is a lack of discourse around the idea. This is also strange to me because I find so many parallels between political and social issues and the world of sports entertainment. I have been thinking about how expressions of sports fanaticism can be viewed as a kind of parody of tribalism. Fans take the rabidity of such conflict to its logical extreme. A fan of one team may say they “hate” fans from a rival team, yet this performance of animosity rarely spills out into other contexts. This playful if hyperbolic antagonism points to the ridiculousness of sectarian bickering, and perhaps can serve as a healthy exorcism of tribalist tendencies.
More recent my paintings have featured imagery from sports broadcasts and the culture surrounding sports fanaticism. As I’ve continued, the compositions increasingly feature more of the interior spaces surrounding the televisions on which the games are displayed. I’m interested in how I can use the interior spaces to describe the people who might be watching the game. I’ve noticed as spectator sports become more of a focus in my work, I’ve identified that I’m not interested in isolating the game in the image, but showing the whole spectacle surrounding the game.
Given what a huge portion of pop culture is devoted to sports, it is strange that it is not a subject addressed more frequently in contemporary art. I’ve come to think that the reason for this isn’t so much that there aren’t artists making work about the sports, but rather that there is a lack of discourse around the idea. This is also strange to me because I find so many parallels between political and social issues and the world of sports entertainment. I have been thinking about how expressions of sports fanaticism can be viewed as a kind of parody of tribalism. Fans take the rabidity of such conflict to its logical extreme. A fan of one team may say they “hate” fans from a rival team, yet this performance of animosity rarely spills out into other contexts. This playful if hyperbolic antagonism points to the ridiculousness of sectarian bickering, and perhaps can serve as a healthy exorcism of tribalist tendencies.
