Artist Statement for

Missed Connection Series

I remember waiting impatiently for my train underground. One that was not mine pulled into the station, and as I watched, I spotted a young man close to my age begin to board the back car. He possessed this stare of intense longing, or perhaps mistaken identification, since we had never met before that moment. Confused, I looked away, then furtively glanced back to find him still focused on me, even as he entered the train. His gaze did not break until the car departed the station. For many in a similar situation now, the logical follow-up is to log onto the Internet to post a missed connection on Craigslist. The Missed Connections section, despite its name, is not always filled with true "missed connections," nor are they necessarily shared between the two participants. While the subdivision is nothing new, the immediacy of the Internet allows the postings to take on a remarkable and complex life. The freshness of the experience can be shared with the public from anywhere, such as a phone or other mobile device, unlimited in length or editing.

The most intriguing posts are those that seem one-sided in their desire; they can be deluded, dream-like, predatory, or queasily pathetic. The author's voice can sometimes claim a light grasp on reality; they might hope that their words will garner the attention of not just the intended person, but also the greater viewing public. These specific moments and individuals have, in turn, persuaded me into reimagining them as paintings. By envisioning and interpreting the posting visually, I appropriate their fantasies and integrate them into my own. I infer from their text and imagine their posture, their surroundings, the details of their appearance, and generate a re-staging of the encounter. Because of the personal and invented nature of what I am painting, I choose to render the forms in a stylized manner. Thick impasto fills the skin of many figures, while clothes and some backgrounds are simplified and flat, outline with neutralized, toned down colors. They are much like how my memory recalls images with dullness and lack of definite features. In this regard, my depiction of the scene says as much about me as the author of the Missed Connection.

The paintings are paired with the text of the posting, printed with the same font from Craigslist on varying and large sheets of paper; thus, our fantasies create a dialogue of subjectivity. Each portion of the diptych shows biased, individual explanations and analysis of what had occurred. I receive the initial instructions from their words, then complete the reconstruction of the moment with no past or future. By concentrating on the exact instant, I stipulate that our interchange stay entrenched in the fetishistic imagination of yearning and desire.