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An author and editor by profession, I started producing visual puns with found objects in the 1990s. In 2011, I developed a technique I called trAction Painting–because of the need for traction and as an homage to Action painting. Using this technique, I apply paint to large canvases with bikes, scooters, wheelchairs, inline skates, and walker. Paint flows to the wheels; the wheels deposit the paint. Twelve years later, I created P6 (Projectile-Precipitated Propellant-Painting Performative Process). I paint objects in an enclosure by piercing spray-paint cans with a pellet rifle. Pressurized pigment splatters the objects in largely stochastic fashion.
MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST
Artist Statement
Please provide a brief description of your creative process, motivations, and inspirations:
In my guise as visual artist, I create works by employing three techniques, two of which I developed.
- P6
- trAction Painting
- Assemblage/Found Objects
Projectile-Precipitated Propellant-Painting Performative Process (I almost never met an alliterative appellation I didn’t like). I created this alliterative moniker to describe a technique I developed in 2023. How it works:
Within a 4 x 4 x 4-foot enclosure, the Pigmilion (Pigment Pavilion), I array objects to paint—canvases, clothing, conveyances, musical instruments, furniture, flower pots, for examples. One by one, I suspend a can of spray paint from the ceiling. I release the paint onto the objects by piercing the can with a pellet rifle putting the projectile through a small opening in the front of the enclosure. The pressurized paint splatters in a stochastic (random) pattern. Not completely random, however. By placing the cans in certain positions/orientations, I can exercise a modicum of control over the paint’s path. But not necessarily. The results of my process might be thought of as “arbitrary abstractions.”
For a canvas, for example, a single coat might suffice. More likely though, multiple sprays are in order. Often, I will switch the canvas’s location within the enclosure with each shot. I know that I’m finished with a given object when my eyes tell me so.
Process artists, such as Christo, and performance artists, such as Chris Burden, are primary inspirations.