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Albatross Head Study 1, Charcoal on Paper

The decline of species in the wild foretells what will be in store for us if we keep on the destructive environmental course that have been navigating.
Originally each of the animals represented was to be seriously endangered or may be extinct in the wild. After considering the rapid increase of climate change events, and the apparent disregard for the ever-increasing amount of pollution in the remotest parts of the world, I have revised my criteria.
All species are endangered.
I have focused recently on the crisis on Midway Atoll with the albatross ingesting plastic from the massive gyre that has developed in the pacific made up of millions of pieces of plastic; everything from plastic bags to toothbrushes.

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Portfolios: The Plastic Project
Location: Berkeley, CA

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Comment by Resident Curator on January 17, 2014 at 9:56pm: Curator’s Comment:

These albatross drawings are heartbreakingly beautiful; disastrous in their delicately articulated skeletal splendor. This first head study captures a dying gesture, reaching out as if to capture a final breath despite its obvious state of decomposition. I find the media and achromatic palette well suited for this serious and sensitive series. The smudgy shadows around the beak and neck intuitively animate the bird, while keeping the overall piece still. It begs the viewer to come in for a closer look. I’m also formally drawn to the third drawing in the series, for the way the head and beak butt up against the top edges of the picture plane. The confinement versus the open area in the bottom contributes to the sensation of absence or loss. The wispy downy feathers behind the eye further soften the harshness of the image, and suggest the (former) corporeal being. The previous full color paintings of the albatross in the throes of discard and destruction are equally well executed on a technical level, but for me are not as emotionally invested. The contrast of value and bursts of higher chroma hues have the effect of compartmentalizing the bird and somewhat detract from the grave expression. But as a painting, the work entitled Remains is vibrant and engaging. Perhaps it’s just as well the conceptual underpinning is pushed a little further back, as it has the opportunity to lure the viewer into the painting to appreciate it’s disorientating but enticingly abstract components.