Beneath The Surface

In Beneath the Surface, I explore a number of themes. The paintings are initially based on a series of images I photographed at the bunkers at Fort Worden, in Port Townsend, Washington. Theses decommissioned bunkers are a favorite place for local graffiti, but the Parks Department frequently comes in and paints over the graffiti with whatever paint they have on hand. The result is a wonderful abstraction – a layering of images, words, and blocks of color.

I found the walls to be visually exciting, and was intrigued by the concept of hidden messages. What exactly lays beneath the paint? A sense of history and identity lost, the marks of those that had passed through the bunkers had been intentionally obscured, secreted away behind the fresh layers of paint. The accumulation of layers seemed to me to show resilience and resolve, both of the graffiti artists and the workmen whose job it was to erase away the new marks. It is an ongoing dialog between opposing viewpoints.

In creating these works, I had the desire to add my own marks to the mix. The numbers in the paintings have no specific meaning, other than a reference to the abundance of numbers we encounter in our daily lives. We use numbers almost as much as we use text, and are identified by several different numbers – in our bank account, credit cards, driver’s license, social security number, etc. I am much more accurately identified by the collection of numbers assigned to me than by my name. I share the same name with many other people, but my numbers are unique to me.