"Foyer Paintings"
Oil on linen. 2021-2022
A foyer to me is more than the passageway into a space. It is the visual equivalent of a novel’s first paragraph; a simple element to identify but one that draws us in, full of promise about what comes next. But a foyer can also separate and create distance. Doorways are portals that establish thresholds of restriction. Hallways lead away from the immediate. In this way, the subject is isolated, intrusion into their realities limited by obscured views and diminishing light.
As an entrance sets the tone for the space beyond it (in addition to often serving as literal settings for many of the paintings in the series), these works are meant as introductions to open-ended narratives that extend past an emotionally ambiguous moment.
Contrast, reflection, light and shadow figure heavily throughout the series, giving depth and alluding to larger stories beyond the picture plane. Likewise, a variety of atmospheric effects pour into view – shafts of light, rain, smoke – from beyond the edge of frame, extending what otherwise might be contained experiences. The narrative allusion is meant to provoke a reading into undefined unfolding events.