Scrap wood is symbolic of the refuse left over from the structures we build around ourselves. In architecture this is known as vernacular, structures built from materials close to the area and therefore having a close relationship with the area. These structures have many different purposes, the variety of which I try to reveal through my paintings and their structures. Some of structures uses are to contain, organize, make more efficient and keep out nature and unwanted people. The resulting structures split us up and allow for possession of space and also reflect the environment they contain. These spaces are our homes, especially for city dwellers that spend most of their time indoors. Most importantly, in these spaces are windows, the main connection to the world outside our space and for strangers, a peak into other people’s worlds.
Despite city dwellers time spent indoors, we constantly seek windows for the fresh air and rich sunlight to which indoor lights and ventilation systems cannot compare. Extensive space looms on for eternity outside the window. Looking out the window I can tell if it is day or night, reinstating that time is real. Because Windows are a meeting place of the inside and outside they always remind us of the separation we have with nature. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing varies with each person and situation. Some people revel in their escape from nature, while others mourn it. Honestly most people’s opinion’s change according to how nice the weather is. But even if it is nice outside our homes and places of work, we stay inside because it’s where the majority of our living is contained.
When you get down to the cold hard truth, there is a distance, and a fragmentation, which occurs between people and the rest of the world. We are isolated by these structures and most of the time we don’t even notice this isolation. I have fragmented and isolated this meeting place of the indoor and the outdoor to reveal the nature these characteristics of the structures in which we reside. Besides this poetic fragmentation, I also associate the fragmentation of my pieces as bitter iconic representations of Baltimore.
Baltimore was a prosperous city in the early 20th century and during the time many beautiful works of architecture were constructed. Later on in the century the city grew poor and disease including syphilis grew rampant due to drugs. Now a days, many of the 20th century structures are abandoned, and have become symbols of a city and people too poor to maintain them and too poor to tear them all down. I hope to reflect this decrepit nature of this city in my work.
Through the use of scraped materials I attempted to emulate windows, as symbols of space in which all city dwellers inhabit. For my work here, this includes the windows of my apartment, studio and the larger terrain of Baltimore city. Also, I have emphasized certain characteristics of windows to suggest the nature in which we notice them and the materials and ways in which they were built.
