$New Normal , gouache and ink on paper, 12" x 18" 2015. First there was coal, then steam, electricity, petroleum, nuclear fission, wind, solar, and hydraulic fracturing… With fuels we constructed things: rails to move trains, roads to drive c$

New Normal, gouache and ink on paper, 12" x 18" 2015.

First there was coal, then steam, electricity, petroleum, nuclear fission, wind, solar, and hydraulic fracturing…

With fuels we constructed things: rails to move trains, roads to drive cars, planes to traverse oceans. We built buildings taller and moved pluming indoors. Our bodies adopted pacemakers, hair extensions, silicone implants, prosthetic limbs, contact lenses, and grilled-teeth. We discovered new tools to kill ourselves and found a thousand different ingredients to cure a hundred various diseases. Crops were engineered to grow larger while liposuction and lap-bands kept our waistlines in-check. We invented disposable cups that take millennia to decompose and wrap everything from snack food to dog poop in plastic bags.

The Western world has learned to shape the resources of our planet to humanities’ liking. We can break matter down to its smallest components and rebuild it to synthesize materials malleable to any task.

This series reflects upon the odd and often unsettling ways land is reconfigured to sustain our current volume of industry production. Whether it be trash churning in the oceans or farmland scorched in the name of better wireless service, each scene illustrates the incompatibility of modern conveniences and the health of our ecosystem.