For the previous eight months, I spent my time living, working and studying in Berlin. In addition, I traveled to London, Prague, Venice and Paris. Much of my time was spent studying the history of the various cities and how that history has in effect shaped the culture. This can be seen by talking to the natives and also by studying the landscape, natural and architectural. Whilst studying architectural theory previously at Carnegie Mellon, one class had a great impact on the subject matter of my paintings. This class being Postwar Architectural History and Theory in Europe. Through this, I came to realize first-hand, architectures paramount ability to shape any city and define its past. While living in Berlin, I was surrounded by one of the most war-torn European cities. A city that had been almost completely re-built post WW2 and post falling of the wall that once divided the east and the west. My interest started because my family had previously been citizens of Germany, Lithuania, and the previous Czechoslovakia, but left before the Nazi occupation. The experience in the beginning was almost mystifying. A city that seemed so new and shiny, holds this derelict history. I then started to examine the ideas that this brought up, through an examination of architecture in my paintings. The implementation of architecture in the medium of paintings, seems very cold and almost one-noted. Though, through the use of specific spaces and a certain usage of materials, architecture in painting can create irony, dark-humor, nostalgia, a mélange of feelings. The analysis of these concepts and passion for the desire to understand and re-interpret the past leaves an unrealized sense that haunts my consciousness and the work I create. Creating paintings with an impasto quality to the surface allows for a deep examination from the viewer. Whilst at first glance my paintings might look like a deconstruction of form, on closer examination, one can ask questions having to do with society and culture that are effected by the architectural forms. In this work there is a culmination of photographs taken from films like “Triumph of the Will.” These images are examined in miniature sized paintings and then combined into this larger work, which measures approx. 200cm by 160 cm. There is always a desire to keep creating, keep re-interpreting the same images and events over and over again, until it ceases to resemble the original. What will come out of this? I ask myself this question all the time. Maybe it is a longing for the past, maybe a re-interpretation; or maybe a way to bring history into the future.
For the previous eight months, I spent my time living, working and studying in Berlin. In addition, I traveled to London, Prague, Venice and Paris. Much of my time was spent studying the history of the various cities and how that history has in effect shaped the culture. This can be seen by talking to the natives and also by studying the landscape, natural and architectural. Whilst studying architectural theory previously at Carnegie Mellon, one class had a great impact on the subject matter of my paintings. This class being Postwar Architectural History and Theory in Europe. Through this, I came to realize first-hand, architectures paramount ability to shape any city and define its past. While living in Berlin, I was surrounded by one of the most war-torn European cities. A city that had been almost completely re-built post WW2 and post falling of the wall that once divided the east and the west. My interest started because my family had previously been citizens of Germany, Lithuania, and the previous Czechoslovakia, but left before the Nazi occupation. The experience in the beginning was almost mystifying. A city that seemed so new and shiny, holds this derelict history. I then started to examine the ideas that this brought up, through an examination of architecture in my paintings. The implementation of architecture in the medium of paintings, seems very cold and almost one-noted. Though, through the use of specific spaces and a certain usage of materials, architecture in painting can create irony, dark-humor, nostalgia, a mélange of feelings. The analysis of these concepts and passion for the desire to understand and re-interpret the past leaves an unrealized sense that haunts my consciousness and the work I create. Creating paintings with an impasto quality to the surface allows for a deep examination from the viewer. Whilst at first glance my paintings might look like a deconstruction of form, on closer examination, one can ask questions having to do with society and culture that are effected by the architectural forms. In this work there is a culmination of photographs taken from films like “Triumph of the Will.” These images are examined in miniature sized paintings and then combined into this larger work, which measures approx. 200cm by 160 cm. There is always a desire to keep creating, keep re-interpreting the same images and events over and over again, until it ceases to resemble the original. What will come out of this? I ask myself this question all the time. Maybe it is a longing for the past, maybe a re-interpretation; or maybe a way to bring history into the future.