ALTERNATE SIDES ART PROJECT
ALTERNATE SIDES
2024 – Present
Alternate Sides is an ongoing investigation into how relationships between light, material, fragmentation, and arrangement shape perception. Working with observational painting, modular reclaimed wood panels, and found materials, I use the project to explore how the formal construction of an image can alter the way it is experienced.
Each work begins through sustained observation. Whether painting a portrait, studying the weathered surface of reclaimed wood, or closely examining an everyday object, I remain with the subject long enough for familiar appearances to give way to subtler relationships of light, color, texture, and form. The paintings are not intended to reproduce appearances as much as they translate the experience of looking closely enough for ordinary things to become unfamiliar again.
Images are constructed across individually painted reclaimed wood panels that are assembled into a single composition and then separated by narrow intervals. Fragmentation is not simply a visual strategy but an active part of the work's structure. The spaces between the panels alter the rhythm of observation, encouraging viewers to move through an image rather than consume it at a glance. As the eye reconstructs the relationships between the parts, attention shifts from recognition toward observation.
The spaces between the panels are as significant as the painted surfaces themselves. They are not empty gaps but active intervals that influence balance, rhythm, and perception. Every movement of a single block changes the relationships throughout the composition, altering how the entire image is understood. The work exists not only within each painted panel, but in the conversation that emerges between them.
The reclaimed wood carries that same investigation into material. Once used for structural purposes and later discarded, the lumber retains evidence of its previous life through grain, wear, imperfections, and repair. Rather than concealing those qualities, I treat them as collaborators in the work. The painted image and the history of the material remain visible simultaneously, allowing both to contribute to the experience of the piece.
Although the subjects range from portraiture and family history to labor, migration, food, neighborhood life, and everyday objects, they are united by a common interest in attention. Many of the people represented are individuals whose contributions quietly sustain their communities: librarians, food vendors, gardeners, neighbors, local business owners, and members of my own family. Rather than elevating extraordinary moments, the work asks what becomes visible when ordinary lives are given sustained attention.
Alternate Sides is ultimately less concerned with fragmentation than with perception itself. Modularity, reclaimed material, and observation function together as formal structures that shape the experience of looking. Rather than presenting images to be understood immediately, the work invites viewers to slow their pace of observation, allowing relationships of light, material, balance, and memory to emerge over time.
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Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + collage media. 18 x 24" block count: 14,
created 7.21.2024, configuration date 4.14.2025
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks. 18 x 24" block count: 11,
created 7.13.2024, configuration date 4.14.2025
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + collage media. 18 x 24" block count: 13,
created 8.17.2024, configuration date 4.14.2025
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + collage media. 18 x 24", block count: 8,
configuration date 2.18.2025
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + collage media. 18 x 24" block count: 10,
created 8.17.2024, configuration date 7.25.2026
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + found palm straw. 18 x 24" block count: 10,
configuration date 7.25.2026
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + found objects. 18 x 24" block count: 9,
configuration date 10.1.2025
Acrylic on modular reclaimed wood blocks + found objects. 18 x 24" block count: 10,
configuration date 7.25.2026
