These are some snap shots of a piece commissioned by the Peterson Investments Group. The client is an investment firm in conjunction with an architectural house. It is an image of the Shangri-La tower which they built in Vancouver. As it is the tallest building on the skyline, they wanted a piece of contemporary art for their lobby which encompassed the scope of their project but was also artwork beyond a just rendering of a building. I was lucky enough to be given free reign, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. I was allowed onto the site to gather artifacts from the construction itself (which included a trip to the unfinished and exposed 62nd floor) and other elements such as diagrams and blue prints. It took approximately six months to come to this conclusion but by the time it was finished I was quite happy. There were several permutations and at one point there was so much going on in terms of architecture and decoration and red paint that any image was lost. I had never experienced having to paint over and steadily rework something that had taken so long. I eventually simplified everything and gave the image some breathing room. The building and the elements on the bottom portion are on raised panels, so the image is multileveled beyond just collage, it is the first time I did that and will not be the last.

This is a piece that I did early last year, I donated it to an auction in support of a community run family support center.  Its about 16 x 20, when they came to pick it up from my studio I wasn't sure if they quite knew what to make of my artwork. I think for an event such as that most of the work exhibited is more traditional. I was in Ontario at the time of the the actual auction itself so all the information that I got back was a letter sent to all participants with a tax receipt. I m kind of curious about where its home is... 

"You know what buddy, You and Me, were not so different."

this one is here just for fun. This was an assignment for a 2nd year painting class at emily carr. the project prompt was 'you and me'. I came across two good shots from some commuter dailies of both these fellows. Saddam Hussien hadn't been executed yet and had one of the most recognizable faces in the world at the time. The Bush photo is mainly to compliment the other and fulfill the necessities of the assignment. I drew some humorous responses from some of the people in the class because the two dont look antagonistic toward each other, in fact they could be having a beer together as if they were buds. I was having an art school moment when your sense of humor alludes you because you got the opposite effect of what you had intended (I still have to learn not to be so serious about the reactions i get to my pictures, but i have upgraded from childish kicking and screaming). Of the hundreds of days i spent at emily carr, its funny the ones that I remember. Its interesting that the most educational or memorable aspects about art school have nothing to do with curriculum at all.     

This is one of the pieces that I have been happiest with in this series of works. Its part of a set of two that I worked on at the same time on adjacent walls called 'In Preparation for the Twenty First Century'. The other was receiving so much attention and this one was still in the initial stages. I can say that when I turned to this one it flowed, it was like the decisions were already there. It started off pretty green but the colours started to shift to this sandy industrial beige, wonderful. If it was still in my possession there are some changes I would have made but overall Im pretty stoked. The client that purchased it also bought the other one too so i was happy that they will be displayed in the same environs. 

sorry that last entry should have read: to the side, me.

below, me. This is a photo taken by robert marks, a photographer extraordinaire after an evening extraordinaire at the cambie

heres a few images form the next series of paintings. These had a few months to develop, like the previous images did. The longer working time meant that there was a lot of time between working sessions. this allowed for many changes in direction in colour and composition to occur. at this point i still didn't have defined intentions for the materials that i came across. A studio mate told me there was a reno dumpster down the street from where we were working, i went to take a look and paydirt! All sorts of fun stuff to play with. this is also when i realized that using garbage, waste and packaging my have an impact on what the work is fundimentally about.

the stuff below is some older student work that i did during one of my final semesters at Emily Carr. It was a change direction that was the unexpected result of focusing on painting while taking a class about collage techniques and having a background in computer graphics and illustration. They are on large panels each about 40 x 60. When embarking on a new creative path, especially one that comes about quite serendipidoulsy like this one did, you have no concrete method or formula. The work that i have made hence is more directed and deliberate, but i find that i come back to these for aesthetic inspiration.