Notes on new work
My work has always been about the psychological presence of the figure, taking me in many directions.
Over the last decade my wife Melo and Daughter Mahro have run their own Vintage clothing business in Toronto @mamalovesyouvintage Melo picks the clothes here and sends them to Toronto where they have a store on Queens. Our house is the hub where things are washed packaged and sent so I am constantly surrounded by clothing, by patterns, this has been very influential
My new work are fully aware of “riffing on the tropes of cubism “and are composed of multiple patterns that reflect my exposure to the Vintage clothing industry and the multi national and global relationship of the fashion/clothing industry and its many facets. From issues of labour and environmental costs, to culture and status.
The Vintage clothing industry is basically rescuing beautiful well made garments from the landfill, a place teeming with disposable fast fashion. In our search for novelty are we also "throwing away" powerful cultural modes and styles
The patterns themselves also work as metaphors for an awareness of dna and human history, We are all unbroken chains to the beginnings of life on this planet and are thus created out of a vast amount of genetic history stretching back millennium. We are all multi patterned, extremely diverse and all ultimately genetically interrelated