safety
Splay
oil on gessoboard box
5 x 5 in x 5 in deep
2007-8
Embedded
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in
2007
Beheld
oil on gessoboard
30 x 30 in
2007
The Presentation
oil on gessoboard
30 x 30 in
2007
Probe
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in deep
2007
Contraction
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in deep
2006
Oil on panel
24" x 24"
2010
This Little Piggie
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 x 2 in deep
2006
Lobe
oil on board
8 in x 8 in x 2 in deep
2005-7
Prod
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in deep
2007
Vice
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in deep
2006
Untitled
oil on board
7 3/4 x 7 3/4 in
2005
Latched
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in deep
2007
Adjustment
oil on gessoboard
8 x 8 in x 2 in deep
2006
Grope
oil on gessoboard
6 x 6 in x 2 in deep
2007-8
Body Search
oil on gessoboard
10 x 10 in x 2 in deep
2007
The Had
oil on gessoboard
10 x 10 in x 2 in deep
2007
The Exam
oil on gessoboard
12 x 12 in x 2 in deep
2007
Pressured
oil on gessoboard box
5 x 5 in x 5 in deep
2007
In my work, I seek to portray a feeling of invasive investigation, which often occurs when one is being looked at and explored as a physical body. Close-ups of particular body parts are captured within tight formats in order to recreate a sense of violated personal space. This invasive focus is stressed in order to recall the vulnerable feelings resultant from exposure to an inappropriate visual touch, such as to a probing eye or to a penetrating gaze. Phrases such as, "His eyes bore into me", or "I could feel him undress me with his eyes," are evocative of the emotional traumas caused by extreme physical awareness. Tugged at and pushed at areas of flesh are willfully cornered and contained within box-like compositions, which serve to exaggerate the "body-as-object" quality of the images. Here, the daring glance or stolen glimpse is presented unabashedly to the viewer. The viewer, therefore, becomes automatically involved with certain, naturally occurring insecurities, which include both the anxiety of being perceived by others as a voyeur and by the experiences of touch, which these images recall. The displays of flesh within my images often flicker between the categories of shame and pleasure, presentation and exploitation, vulnerability and accessibility, and the endurance of the unwanted touch. The formal aspects of my work often entail a manifestation of these issues relating to the body. Tension is derived from opposing forces of large to small elements within the compositions. Issues of domination are played with as single, smaller areas impose themselves upon the larger surrounding masses of each image. As an artist, I am able to make peace with these insecurities regarding the body by organizing its beauty into an objectively controlled composition. My own vulnerabilities become neutralized when they are re-cast and ordered into these isolated specimens of flesh-suggesting paint. Even better, when the illusion does succeed, and the viewer becomes somewhat uncomfortable at what they are looking at, I find that I am not just another onlooker; rather, I am a willing presenter -An exhibitionist, if you will, which returns to me a certain bit of power. Furthermore, where these images are self-portraits, I become separated from the vulnerability of being looked at by removing my likeness onto a two-dimensional, inanimate surface. It is here, that I have at last, escaped the body, and have become instead, an objective observer. 
Underhanded
oil on gessoboard
10 x 10 in x 2in
2008/9
Thomas
oil on panel
8" x 8"
2007
Grip
oil on gessoboard
8" x 8" x 2"
2007
Knead
oil on panel
24" x 24"
2010
Caress
oil on panel
5 x 5 in x 2 in deep
2009
Prop
oil on panel
7" x 7"
2007/9
Clench
oil on panel
8" x8"
2009
Cinch
oil on panel
5" x 5"
2009
Squish
oil on panel
30" x 40"
2010
