artist statement

My artwork is most commonly the result of experimentation while tinkering with technology. In my world ‘Innovation’ lies at the intersection of Science and Art and the Technologies that I choose to work with are merely tools.  I like to make images whether it is a photograph of 3D printed ‘things’, 2D print of a detailed computer renders, or shooting photos of laser beams with my 40-year-old Yashica camera. I like to study light and how to best create it, capture it, manipulate it, and then share it.  Often, I bring it all back to traditional artistic techniques as I understand that even the oldest techniques involve the use of tools that were once considered new technologies and that imagination and creativity pushed those technologies to form a new way to express an artist’s idea. No matter how new and technologically advanced my tools can become I will always appreciate the technologies family tree that ties it all back to the 1st time that caveman drew images in the sand or took charcoal to the walls of a cave – and then everything mankind has accomplished since then.

My most recent effort is transforming digital sketches from an advanced new e-ink tablet into screen printed editions of the art.  Again, I am combining new technology with something very old. I am currently fascinated with Screen Printing as it was something that I last did over 25 years ago.  I had been waiting patiently over the years for the inspiration to revisit it and finally ‘tripped’ the inspiration at 30,000+ feet in an airplane on a round trip from Illinois to Sweden. ‘Tripp’In Swedish’ is a series of screen prints based off of 14 digital sketches that I made (in a plane) on a new device called the ReMarkable Paper Tablet. It is an e-ink display combined with a high precision digital pen. While on the roundtrip flight (almost 20 hours) I used sketching to pass the time, but also to explore the capabilities this new tablet.

Originally, I had no intention of making screen prints of these images but was inspired by the opportunity to open a new gallery at the Advanced Space building in Peoria, Il. It is home to River City Labs, a MakerSpace that I belong to, that was finally opening its street level storefront to the public during a ‘ritual’ the locals call ‘First Friday’. This is where artists and those that appreciate art bounce around the city from one artist gallery to another to celebrate creativity. I immediately started planning the logistics of transforming these images from gray scale digital documents to full size screen printed works of art.

Fortunately enough, after contacting Prairie Center of the Arts I was invited to utilize their burn table and screen wash sink and then ultimately pushed the ink at River City Labs.

‘Tripp’In Swedish’ – the exhibit - opened for one night only on Friday March 2nd with 5 original screen print editions and several digital prints from this series. My goal is to periodically add a few limited edition prints of the remaining works as time permits until ultimately closing the series with another exhibit sometime in late 2019.