Why is your connection to your Texas roots so evident in your work? What draws you to it? What has solidified your attachment to your upbringing?

The nature and traditions of my early life really instilled this attachment in me. I grew up listening to Red Dirt country music, river floating, dance hallin’, etc. There was and is an ever-present sense of Texas pride in my family’s household. I was eager to leave Texas when I got older, but once I got to Chicago, I kind of instantly had an intuition to make work involving the aesthetics of the spaces I was brought up in. My practice works as a processing of my past experiences, highlighting the things I do and don’t like, understand, or know what to think of.

Do you think your practice is a form of coping with homesickness? In the past year or two, it seems that the motifs have “ramped up” a bit.

Yes. But I also see the Texan motifs coming up in my work as a result of my authentic art-making process, as opposed to a totally conscious decision that I made. It kind of just came out of me, and I’m not sure if there is a correlation to homesickness. The “ramping-up” kind of came accidentally – I was looking at a lot of textures and materials that I would have seen in Texas. When I first started the body of work, I wanted each piece to act as a swatch of a certain texture of the region – creating almost a mood board when put together. It seemed more approachable than making explicit commentary on Texas itself. With this method, I can kind of just mimic memories, occasionally altering or abstracting it as I see necessary.

I like how you phrase it as swatches. They feel like little memories of Texas. Can you just describe some of the motifs you are most drawn to?

Wood, rust, boots, hunting, and patterns like gingham and camo.

I feel like your work is timeless in that it is so quintessentially “American,” though that holds many different associations and implications. It’s also timeless in that it’s so intertwined with memory. How might you relate the two together?

I listen to a lot of country and folk music, and what I really like about that genre is how frequently artists will cover the same song over and over again, to the point where the general public doesn’t even know who wrote it originally. The works evolve and adapt with time. I guess that is one way I see the subjects and images in my works. I’m often trying to highlight the persistence of specific iconography.

Do you think it can be dangerous for artists to be too vague?

Yes, I do, but danger is good for an artist. There is always going to be someone who wants to pigeonhole the work into one specific purpose, meaning, translation, etc. People can be judgmental if you are too vague as well, they want to know your intentions and the reasons why the work is the way it is, which is totally fair and is something I try to ask myself every day in the studio. But what comforts me about art, is that it can be and will always be multifaceted.. sure that can make it nuanced, but to me, ambiguity can allow works to simply exist on their own. The painting does not need me for it to communicate to an audience.

How do you view your practice? There are some artists driven by skill refinement or material experimentation, others who create only to show, many who make art for their own pleasure…where do you situate yourself?

I feel that I’ve always been a very intuitive artist. Most projects are driven by a certain material. The material is usually square one. I see my practice as being half material play and half conceptual, in a sense. The reason I make art is frankly for myself. It is fulfilling. But the art itself is for whoever crosses paths with it.

What motivates your usage of certain materials?

I feel that I’ve been understanding my material play a lot better these days. The materials I use are relevant to both the physical and conceptual substance of my work. I use media such as wood, patinas, and found objects; and they present themselves in different ways, sometimes referencing themselves. What draws me to motifs and materials like wood and metal is the inevitable physical act of deterioration: fading, splintering, and rusting. I am aiming to explore these transformative processes in relation to the deeper conceptual elements my work addresses – how materials, similar to our memories and visions of the past – break down and transform.

Have you ever felt the need to abstract your work from your background to be more successful with a wider audience?

No, not particularly. I have only been making work with these motifs for a few years and I feel like I have a lot of momentum with it. At the same time – I try to be conscious of what the work communicates. I don’t want it to necessarily be “Texas Art”, that is just the inspiration behind it. I’d like to stick with the direction I am going in, but my attraction to a wide range of materials helps my practice to be always evolving. I know that my work comes from a very specific source of inspiration, but I want to keep it open enough to where it can be approachable to a large audience.

How do you play with materials? What mindset are you in when you enter the studio?

The main way I have been playing with materials recently is by exploring dichotomies of real materials and mimicked objects. For example, making paintings on wood and making paintings of wood. Also, I am starting to experiment with fabrics and garments by fitting them onto panels and canvases, giving the surfaces human-like limbs. I am slowly starting to introduce allusions to the human body into my work.

Mornings in the studio are organized. I like to have a game plan so that I can stay on track before the day starts to take some of my energy. If I can get a few hours in the morning of straight painting, it’s a good day.  After lunch time or in the evenings, my focus weakens, so I typically research, make sketches, or alternate working on abandoned pieces. In the past, studio time has been intense, like every move I made had to be the right one. That is a really good way to get nothing done. So, I try to remind myself to go at my own pace and that it’s okay to make another bad painting.

Who are some of your favorite artists right now?

I honestly mostly look at the work of contemporary artists on Instagram and stuff. I am terribly bad with names, but I do know that I am loving the works of Richard Tinkler right now. I also absorb a lot from my artist friends and former classmates. These are people I have worked next to and have had the pleasure of getting to know their practices on an intimate level. People like Jamieson Pearl, Yifan Li, Emma Lacy, Thomas McIntyre, Ashley Stokols, Justin Lee, Anne-Joelle Tan, Thomas Sudlik, and Frieda Silva have definitely influenced my work…whether that be in a direct or indirect way.

Interview conducted by Ellie Schrader and edited by Liam Owings