The Effort Series 2018
The Effort Series has multiple meanings. Overall, this series represents triumph over personal darkness or depression and then the development of a resilient ‘back against the wall’ mentality over seemingly impossible odds. Sometimes life seems to have us in a corner and forward is the only way to go because there is a wall behind you. One reason that we find ourselves in this place is because we’re not living up to our potential and then running from the confrontation with our potential, until we find ourselves feeling trapped. There was a thought I had where I saw myself struggling to make one brush mark on a canvas. Then my idea turned into a joke. First I want to say that I feel like I pour everything about my being into the art that I make. As an artist I translate uncomfortable aspects of the human experience, for others to see, and sometimes I see artwork that doesn’t seem, to me, very profound or interesting. Some artists seem to reach a point in their career where they can literally just throw a paint brush at a canvas and gain praise because of their brand. So, that’s basically what I did. People see artwork like this and they think, “Anyone could do that”. Anyone could possibly do anything but thinking about doing something and actually materializing the thought are two different things. Just because a piece of art isn’t visually striking to you doesn’t mean there isn’t an underlying message or meaning in front of, behind, or around that specific piece of art. I started these paintings in my typical style and then painted them solid colors and then threw paint on them. Now, these minimalistic seemingly simple paintings have significance. Not only do they portray a physical representation of how it is to feel extremely worthless and the ability to overcome those feelings, but they also have sarcasm, all the while holding aesthetically pleasing values. I think I have plainly explained The Effort Series to you and hopefully it makes a little more sense than minimum wage.