Artist Statement

Improvised Gardens

Improvised Gardens, the second solo exhibition with Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco, CA. In these paintings, there continues an investigation of human’s complex relationship to both the natural and constructed environment, looking at our dual and conflicting desires to both tame and live harmoniously with nature. 

Inspired by walks around San Francisco neighborhoods, many of these works focus on small improvised garden spaces, exploring how space is manipulated in densely populated urban areas with an effort to bring in the natural world, further underscored by the inclusion of three large planter box sculptures on the gallery floor.

While a precise, balanced design, vibrant colors, and clean aesthetic suggest a reach toward perfection, a dystopian element is often present – the view through thick, overgrown vines reveals a grey, drab, post-apocalyptic city devoid of any signs of life, while small garden spaces are still lifes in a holodeck. Backdrops rendered in pastel gradients remind us we are only looking at a facsimile of nature, an idea furthered by recurring grid lines; while the grid has long been used as the invisible tool of artists and designers, here it brings to the forefront, revealing and reveling in the façade. Grids take the form of tiled walls, cinder blocks, high-rise buildings, and trellises, but also reference the underlying structures of urban spaces, and the invented or physical barriers meant to delineate space and property.