States of America:
A series of squared paintings, made during the pandemic for instagram, contained by the comfort of a screen.
Since the start of the pandemic, words have been used in the media and in general that heighten the awareness of social ills and anxieties in society. Examples of such words are: Essential, Undocumented, Expendable, Indebted, Uninsured, Disposable, etc. Often used casually, these words refer to conditions undermining human dignity and potential. The paintings start out with the word, placed across the canvas horizontally or vertically, embedded in a heavily gessoed square on a raw canvas. Then the image is created over the lettering, which is sometimes ripped off, sometimes embossed, or glossed, and sometimes just left buried.