My early work of drawings and bricolage objects were based on quixotic notions of misfortune and gloom. The central theme of which evolved from the question: “If Yosemite Sam were an artist, what kind of work would he make?” By appropriating the psyche of Yosemite as a conceptual impetus, I expounded on what I had imagined as his inner life of existential angst. His boneheaded humor and sentimental cantankerousness were elements that I addressed by creating works which I thought he might be capable of making himself, had he attended art school. Because I had imagined Yosemite to be somewhat of a tinkerer, assemblage seemed a suitable formal means to address his rustic sensibilities. Throughout my oeuvre as Yosemite, I also attended to what I imagined as his tertiary pursuits of interest: free masonry, family, and illness. The entire body of work, of course, varies stylistically in order to account for his changing attitudes reflected upon his conceptual concerns. These works extended from 2002 until 2006 and ended with the introspective piece, Yosemite Sam ponders his own death.

After my involvement with Yosemite, I became interested in the television series “Jackass.” From my perspective, “Jackass” held common thematic links to my previous activities, albeit less existential and more transgressive. Having grown up in rural areas of the South, I had, as many others before me, been initiated at an early age into the solemn rites of impromptu wrestling matches, amateur stunting, setting things on fire, and hitting things with sticks—most of which took place in the backyard. To be sure, pranks and ill-advised activities of innumerable variations were constant preoccupations. It is therefore of no surprise that the extreme, performance-based buffoonery of “Jackass” intrigued me. Curiously enough, it also seemed to mirror the mild, repetitive, transgressiveness of the cartoons I watched as a young boy that had spurred my interest in Yosemite Sam. For some, “Jackass” succinctly illustrates everything they despised about certain aspects of youth culture, whereas it allowed me to voyeuristically relive the follies of the past without the risk of bodily harm.

Through this fascination a second chapter in my artistic life was sparked and the private lives of males became a focal point from which I generated a series of portraits meant to memorialize the painful buffoonery present in some all-too-familiar masculine circles. The humor employed in these works was decidedly ham-fisted and was conceived from images I had found posted on the Internet. During this time I worked almost exclusively in oil paint. The (often self-imposed) cultural baggage of the medium juxtaposed with images of macho nincompoop(ism) was intentionally devised as metahumor about the notion of self important, white, male painters. The idea that paintings could be commemorations of profound stupidity eventually lead me to graduate school. From 2008 to 2010 I wrote my MFA thesis on the origins of “Jackass” and its relationship to carnivalesque, slapstick, and cathartic spectacle.

Since my graduation, my work continues to focus on the pranks and pathos of masculine culture. I continue to find new ways to approach this interest and have begun painting the environments and interiors often associated with it as a means of describing its broader context. The Internet remains an enormous resource from which my painting practice continues to evolve, as I work exclusively from the snapshots I find posted online to construct the narrative of my work. Because of its anonymous nature, the Internet is a modern day Pandora’s box, and allows me a window into the backyards of the world.