Every tradition starts with a departure, a move slightly off course that builds upon the paths that came before. A new tradition requires not only solid footing, but a deviation from the past. Terra Firma explores the divergences that evolve into tradition, questioning the structures and foundations that inform contemporary life.

Myths and belief can be exposed or fostered depending how they slide through time. My paintings map out scenes of collision, questioning the validity and stability of their very foundation. The history and practice of painting is filled with contradictions. What feels solid in the moment may in fact be a flimsy scaffold, or an approximation of strength.

In several paintings, immovable and ancient waterfalls existing outside of our understanding of time are flattened and reduced to backdrops for modernity. Historical paintings become shorthand for culture in a mixing of fact, fiction, and ignorance. Over time, a truth becomes false. And the unforeseen turns into truth. Movements in the history of painting are mirrors of a specific time and place. I’m interested in the way these reflections operate in a space free from the hierarchical implications of the past.

My work utilizes the “low” imagery of the everyday alongside institutionally endorsed works of “high” art. The pictures trespass and intrude on each other’s space. They meet but do not join. Rather than fully blending, they create a soft edge. This liminal space belongs to neither image. I look for interruptions and play with expectations. My bright, cheery compositions use the illusion of logic and stability to ask what painting’s relationship can be to the palpable uneasiness of the present.

Terra Firma is the very first exhibition of the New York artist in Latin America, presented by Galería Tiro al Blanco.