These are selections from an ongoing series of over 1000 paintings exploring occult phenomena in the landscape - all 10" x 10" - oil, acrylic, mixed media on paper - 2016-2020 - newer towards top
AGROCCULT SERIES
THESE ARE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS DEPICTING THE FETISHIZATION OF EARTH. OUR EXCESSIVE AND IRRATIONAL DEVOTIONS, WHETHER CULTURAL OR GLOBAL, HAVE INDELIBLY LEFT THEIR SCARS UPON THE PLANET'S SOIL. THESE SCARS ARE NOW VENERATED AND SHOWN OFF LIKE BATTLE SCARS OR ALLEGORICAL TATTOOS.
THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE HAS SUSTAINED BRUTAL CHANGES, AND ITS SHORT HISTORY ONLY UNDERSCORES THE BRUTALITY. SEEN BY TURNS AS AN UNTOUCHED PARADISE TO CONTROL, A LUSH MYSTERY TO EXPLORE, A POWERFUL AND STUBBORN FOE TO SUBDUE, OR A SANITIZED GROWING MEDIUM FORCED TO PRODUCE, THE LAND HAS BEEN CHANGED AND CHANGED AGAIN: WESTWARD EXPANSION, THE LAND GRABS, THE SURVEYING, THE TERRITORIALITY, GOLD RUSHES, THE TRAIL OF TEARS, LEAD RAINING UPON THE PLAIN AT SHILOH, INTERSTATES, EXTINCTION OF BUFFALO, DRAINING OF SWAMPS, DIGGING OF CANALS, THE DAMMING, THE TILLAGE, THE SLASHING AND BURNING TO MAKE WAY FOR MONOCULTURE, ENSLAVEMENTS, THE PRODDING AND HERDING INTO RESERVATIONS, DESECRATION OF BURIAL GROUNDS, EPIDERMAL RUPTURE WITH DYNAMITE, DETONATIONS IN LOS ALAMOS, STAINING BY THE EXXON VALDEZ, BLOODLETTING WITH THE IRRIGATION PIPE IN CALIFORNIA, IGNITION OF THE CUYAHUGA, THE PIG FARMS, THE SERVER FARMS, A SCUFFED AND BATTERED PULPIT FOR THE NEW PILGRIMS INDEED.
OCCUPANCY ON EARTH IS NOW BEYOND UBIQUITOUS - A LAND SLATHERED IN THE RICH MARKINGS OF TERRITORIALITY WITH ITS REAL OR METAPHORIC MONUMENTS, MEMORIES AND EFFIGIES. REBUILDING LIKE FRAGGLES, OUR MYTHOLOGIES, RITUALS AND BELIEFS ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. THE AGROCCULT SERIES DOES NOT DEPICT THESE EVENTS IN A WAY THAT IS IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZABLE; RATHER, IT FOCUSES ON THE LAND ITSELF AS A STAGE FOR THE SERIES OF TRAGEDIES ENACTED UPON IT. IMAGES OF ARCHETYPAL MYSTICISM PEEK THROUGH THE CURTAINS OF TRADITIONAL LANDSCAPES, ASKING THE VIEWER TO QUESTION THE RITUAL, THE BELIEFS, THE MOTIVES OF ITS CULTURAL TOTEMS AND MEMORIALS NOW APPEARING ON STAGE. WHERE DO OUR LAND IDEOLOGIES COME FROM? WHAT IS THE BURDEN? CAN WE BE FORGIVEN? IT IS THESE VERY SPIRITUAL WISPS AND ABANDONED GLYPHS OF FORMER UTOPIAS THAT MAKE FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICALLY-LOADED LANDSCAPE. THE DESIRE TO REVERE A TRADITIONAL, IDYLLIC LANDSCAPE SCENE BECOMES THWARTED BY AN ABERRATION, BY PAINTED ORBS, AURAS, TRACERS AND LUMINOSITIES ADORNING THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP. THE GHOSTS AND ABANDONED GLYPHS OF THESE FORMER UTOPIAS MAKE FOR PSYCHOLOGICALLY-LOADED AND HALLOWED TERRAIN. CONSECRATIONS ARE OMNIPRESENT ON ANY SOIL.
AN ESCHATOLOGY IS IN PLACE CONCERNING THE INEVITABLE DESTINY OF HUMANKIND AND THE DEATH OF OUR PLANET - JUDGMENT WILL BE GIVEN. END TIMES AND GREEN GRASS.