Unexpected Inspiration
After the Wiley Coyotes show at the West Charleston Gallery, I had begun to really delve into my MFA studies, attempting to discover myself and my practice. It was all very mysterious to me, becoming the artist that I want to be. I was painting portraits, still life of things around the house, but it just didn't feel right and I was often left frustrated. I had a number of paintings that I was satisfied with, but felt like one-offs, successes that I could visit but would struggle to reside in. Experiments after experiments, failures after failures. One day I received a call from Darren Johnson, the director of the Las Vegas Library District galleries. He asked me if I would be interested in providing a piece for a group show at the Sahara West Gallery, in case you don't know, the Sahara West Gallery is very large and ideal for artists that are looking to show large works. However, the theme was wrestling and I will honestly say that it wasn't a subject I was absolutely crazy about, so I said sure. I decided that if I was going to show my work in that space, it would need to be large. I decided to make it 56" x 66".
This was all happening during the very first semester of my MFA studies. For some reason I had mentally separated the wrestling project from what I perceived was the "real art" I was attempting to formulate. My mentor at the time, Robert Reynolds, was meeting with me about the work I was producing that week. and of course I was reluctant to mention this elephant-in-the-room painting. However after working on it for a week, I decided to ask Rob what he thinks about it. To my surprise he was very intrigued and suggested that I explore that subject matter further.
The piece that ultimately ended up hanging in the show, called "Camel Clutch" became a springboard for all the work I began producing thereafter. I learned that every path is as valuable as the path you want to walk on.
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