The theme of your upcoming show, “In Praise of Physical Labor,” intrigued me because my work often deals with absurd and strenuous ways of working. In “Freedom Tower Caste System,” I depict many of the past jobs I had while living in New York City. Workers in a basement support the other ‘castes’ of society that exist on different floors of the tower. Political considerations aside, the work is grounded in the necessity of an artist to work freelance, gaining skills in a haphazard jack-of-all trades sort of way.

My work carries an immediacy that fits with the crises of the day, and speaks to people on a personal level – to counteract the corporate branding, toxicity of marketing, and annexing of the creative public space. This deterioration is not just the fault of some unfathomable corporation, or menacing overseer. We all contribute to the world we live in; the deterioration is found first of all in the imagination. As an artist I want to challenge this mediocrity. (Richmond, VA)