To start – tell me about the new series of paintings you’ve been working on.

I’ve been looking at a lot of 19th century American paintings and thinking about the parallels they share with the new world and the seemingly forgotten virtues that were lost over time. My best guess being that’s due to us having so much access to everything.
But there’s still this sort of spirit of ideas and innovation in the air and I believe those timeless, almost stoic virtues coupled with that spirit of innovation is largely what drove us so successfully into the 21st century and that’s what I tend to think about when painting these days and it helps to drive my own work. So for example, today I woke up around 6 and went on a walk and while walking I thought about what I can do to be better in most aspects of my life. Usually when i broadcast those types of thoughts, I receive very virtuous ideas and try my best to carry them with me throughout the day and because I’m painting every morning after my walk, it often helps to inform my level of work ethic and provides theme for thought.

You described these new works as commentary on the “state of America, the world, and human progress.” Can you explain that further?

That question prompts a very broad discussion, but I love to think in broader/big picture terms. We know that the U.S. strategy for global competitiveness has two main cornerstones- tech innovation and marketing. We don’t and will never have the lowest cost of labor or raw materials, so we have to exploit higher up on the value chain. Ideas, in my opinion, have tremendous weight and value to them.
My ideas for these new works are from photos I’ve taken on my iPhone, which is my primary tool for documenting. I’ll usually make a drawing from my phone or computer, scan it off at Fedex and transfer the important lines onto canvas and that process is mostly organizing ideas until the painting phase. That in and of itself says a lot about human progress in the arts. Our tools are way more advanced than 100 years ago and ideas can become reality in no time flat. Furthermore, the subjects of these paintings have a carefree nature to them. I know it’s tough to make the call that America is so care free when it’s such a shit show according to the news, but keep in mind that the media will do everything it takes to keep anyone’s attention and the ones who are social distancing don’t fit in the frame of an Instagram photo. I feel like i’m starting to digress, but my point is that if you tune out your feed and just live your life and work hard, it’s easier now than ever before. We might be known for our liberties, sure, but to balance that out we also have a tremendous amount of responsibility to one another and now is our time to push things forward.

I agree that technology has made things much easier for us, especially artists, and that it’s just a matter of not being distracted by the negative sides of tech. With that being said, we obviously both utilize social media to our advantages and to build a platform. As an artist, how do you view social media as a whole? Because it can be hard to use it as a tool without letting it consume you.