STILL LIFE 1ST PLACE WINNER

I am a still life specialist producing a series of oil paintings known as The Kingdom. In short, The Kingdom is my imaginary world wherein I explore a variety of ideas generally based on primal notions: fear of the unknown, passion, mystery, or misery, for instance. Toward this pursuit I often utilize common objects as subjects - relying heavily on metaphor and symbolism - though I also fully construct subject matter otherwise unavailable: all to suggest fragments of story. In addition I also write a brief passage of fiction for each painting, a process which helps consolidate and add density to my visual ideas: the inverse of how illustrations complement literature. These processes ultimately intersect as a unique treatment of ideas, subject matter, and distinctive paint manipulation - resulting, I hope, in something special. Specific to The Kingdom is my use of origami dragons as recurring characters, dolls, and "luminous" shadows. Also of note, I paint from life, with no use of preliminary drawing, tracing, or photography. I paint.