_FUNKHOUSER

Over Christmas of 2018, I went to Yosemite and hiked out of the valley, along the Snow Creek trail. It’s a great hike — with ample switchbacks that offer a different perspective of Half Dome as well as regular views of Mount Watkins.

I brought photos of this back to the studio and played around with the view in oils.

On my way across southern Utah, I saw a sign with an arrow pointing to "Valley of the Gods." That sounded promising, so I turned onto the dirt road.

I’ve been messing around with deconstructed/reconstructed paintings for a little big (collage/assemblage work crossing over into the realm of sneaker recon hype). It only made sense to try the same thing with some busted ceramic pieces.

It’s been a few years of trying to perfect my handle-making on functional mugs and pitchers — the stakes always feel too high. I put time into weighing, throwing, measuring, trimming, waiting — and then ruin a piece with a shitty handle. I wanted to remove that pressure. These ugly vases are made with assorted reclaimed clay from the past year

Valley of Fire is a wild landscape of swirls. You can see the layers of geological history — layers of sand turned to waves of stone. The warm colors stun at sunrise. It’s one of those places where a photo will do — it doesn’t really need to be painted at all. It’s already an abstract expression of emotion.

Sometimes the incorporation of printed images feels like cheating — a quick solution? Or relying too heavily on someone else’s skills? (I’ve have an aversion to spending hours of my life trying to paint or draw anything photorealistically). But as I’ve been thinking about appropriation and general theft of imagery, it seems that media has made it’s way back into my artistic vocabulary.

During a December trip to Yosemite, I was looking for a beautiful hike with minimal other hikers and opted for the Snow Creek Falls Trail.

Starting from Ahwahnee, I walked the loop trail over to Mirror Lake just after sunrise.