I am a digital painter. My hands are removed by many degrees from the making of this work.
I apply cheap, edible, colorful, non-archival products to an original surface using a dropper and never a paint brush. In the case of my work with food dye and water, I allow drops to dry completely before adding new drops. This allows the colors to mix and react to each other in a painterly way, without my direct intrusion. In some images, the drops of water sit atop 20-40 layers of other dried drops. I also photograph gelatin; the colors layer and meld and interact with the light differently with the presence of the new substance, one that is mysterious in its origin, and neither liquid nor solid. In both cases, photographing the event removes my physical presence from my work one step further. The original moment is no longer available to us. The food dye drops have dried and faded to greens and browns. The gelatin has dried and cracked and flaked off of its white ceramic tile.
The moment has become something else by now. Those moments I have given attention to have an increased depth and resonance, and carry a different presence through time in their respective altered forms. Inspired by the scientist Masaru Emoto’s studies on water’s connection with intention and emotion, I chose to tessellate the images into hexagonal figures to resemble the structure of the water molecule. More specifically, those that resemble the water molecule when it is removed from negative emotions or environmental pollution, which dissolve the pristine hexagonal structure.
We live in a world that is full of pain. With the existence of so much evil in the world and potentially destructive objects like particle accelerators and nuclear bombs, material or earthly concerns are hardly dependable. My work aims to distill the heaviness and complexity of the world to show the one consciousness that exists behind all of our baggage and to awaken awareness of a peace that is attainable beyond and within this realm.
I am not the first person to do this. I somewhat follow traditions of Buddhist mandalas and Tantric yantras. I also follow traditions of DJs and other makers of sampled and electronic music, whose music reflects aspects of our current culture in a raw, symbolic way. My leaning to combine traditional spiritual art and modern secular multimedia work extends my vision and guides me to my truth. I use the intelligence that exists intrinsically in these forms and push them through the filter of my being to deliver what I have to share. This is not to say I want to communicate ancient Buddhist art or modern hip hop to the viewer. I want to share the truths I have learned from what is represented in both of these art forms, as I see personal truth in these more than in any other art form. This is my way of making many separate things my one truth. And in a bigge¬¬r picture, this is what I think OM or one consciousness is about.
