My current body of work explores the subject of manufactured landscapes, specifically the landscape of surface mines. I consider these landscapes both as sites of commodified nature and beautiful archeological relics of our movement across the land.

Because I make these paintings in the studio and not on site, the photographic reference has become a major component to the work. Whether utilizing found photographs or my own, the aerial vantage point is critical to exposing the elegant geometry of the manipulated landscape. Photographic imagery as mediator between humans and the land is not a new concept, but the current ease of access to this imagery has changed our conception of our relationship to that land.

The notion of our place in the world, the scale of our industrial impact, and our ability to manipulate the land have each been greatly altered by this imagery. I think it both beautiful and bewildering to consider these sites as though they were models, easily controlled and toyed with.