Inquire Within
During my time in New York City, I would, on occasion, reject hipster amusements, unique dining experiences and the right hashtags in favor of urban wanderings. What emerged from these excursions were photographic investigations of Brooklyn neighborhoods that provided curiously rich visual reference material for paintings. “Inquire Within” chronicles the artist’s adjustment from sleepy, blue-collar, small town Minnesota to a famously sleepless metropolis. The title references the familiar subtitle of a Help Wanted sign. “Inquire Within” suggests a process of inward self-reflection necessitated by the daily visual and auditory onslaught of big city stimuli. The work not only offers glimpses into the small worlds contained within each gritty storefront, but the windows also reveal layers of context, reflecting the signage, architecture and foliage of its surroundings. I am visible in most of the paintings, stealthily wielding a small, red Nikon Coolpix and sporting a blue hat and orange fanny pack. The obscured reflection of a Midwestern observer reveals cluttered and distorted layers of urban spectacle.
