‘Scattering Light’

Solo booth at Marfa Invitational with The Pit, Marfa, Texas, 2023

Excerpt from The Pit’s press release:

“These paintings are a humble love letter to sunlight, and the many ways that light scatters and greets our eyes in the waning hours before darkness. Living in the High Desert at the end of a washboard road, I’ve found myself more aware of new surroundings now that I’m removed from the city. The immensity of the sky is magnified by the absence of cars, buildings, stoplights, and ambient noise.

In the evenings, the sun arcs over the desert wash casting shades of cadmium red, orange, and pink before dissolving into deep prussian blues, violets, and turquoise, signaling it will soon settle in the craggy hills west of my studio. It’s a ritual performance I rarely miss.

I’ve been reading more about clouds and their role in this ritual performance. The way they scatter light. The way they can masquerade as light themselves depending on their wavelength, altitude, angle of departure, and depending on the perspective of the viewer.

The same sunset can look much different to the observer depending on where you are in space and how close you are to those clouds. It’s no surprise that these otherworldly events have inspired mysticism, fear, and transcendence in humans for centuries. Showing up as stained glass, poetry, or a $10 tie-dye t-shirt for sale under a tent on the side of the road.”