Two Dimensional

Seven Year Paintings

Work in Progress

As a degree-seeking painting student I did everything I could to avoid painting altogether. I began this body, the Seven Year Paintings, in 2009. My initial intention had been to bang it out, though it's clearly been an entire decade now. Some years the paintings were never touched at all. The relationship I’ve physically had with these surfaces, sometimes pushing and rubbing the oil pastel pigment around until my fingertips are raw and sore, includes relating with my past- dealing with decisions I made- marks, gestures, colors- years ago, sometimes wiping out fixed elements of over five years standing. And an unexpected thing happened to me after having spent so much time pouring myself into these paintings: I finally experienced painting.
These paintings made me a painter despite myself.