UNTITLED, 2017, a two person exhibition at AA|LA conceived by David Armacost, a painting peer and friend, together we produced a large 80’ x 20’ painting in the five day installation. This large painting became the wall or background for our own paintings mounted directly atop. The exhibition was not only a display of our paintings, the efforts of our independent studio practices on display, it was the function of hanging out painting together.

We both spent a lot of time painting in the fall and winter of 2001, when we were finishing at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington DC. Looking back, it seems like a very fertile and formative time; we were both working to assert our agency somehow, because in many ways life was dictated by the anxiety and crisis following 9/11. Back then was when we first started to use painting in a more inward focused way—as a personal exercise in response to the alarming events happening around us. We found out painting could be a kind of secret weapon to deal with trauma and uncertainty. It was secret because it was private, interior, and not necessarily linked to physical objects or reality. It was a weapon because ultimately it made us feel more resilient and agile in the changing world.Even though there is again a pervasive feeling of anxiety and insecurity enveloping us, we take comfort in being unified with like-minded artists and friends. For this exhibition, we believe a collaborative painting will be the most fulfilling solution, especially since we haven't worked side by side in so long. In a way this project is sixteen years in the making, it's a painting show with the goal of continuation; it's a declaration of what we can do, under duress or otherwise, anywhere and no matter what. — We both spent a lot of time painting in the fall and winter of 2001, when we were finishing at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington DC. Looking back, it seems like a very fertile and formative time; we were both working to assert our agency somehow, because in many ways life was dictated by the anxiety and crisis following 9/11. Back then was when we first started to use painting in a more inward focused way—as a personal exercise in response to the alarming events happening around us. We found out painting could be a kind of secret weapon to deal with trauma and uncertainty. It was secret because it was private, interior, and not necessarily linked to physical objects or reality. It was a weapon because ultimately it made us feel more resilient and agile in the changing world.
Even though there is again a pervasive feeling of anxiety and insecurity enveloping us, we take comfort in being unified with like-minded artists and friends. For this exhibition, we believe a collaborative painting will be the most fulfilling solution, especially since we haven't worked side by side in so long. In a way this project is sixteen years in the making, it's a painting show with the goal of continuation; it's a declaration of what we can do, under duress or otherwise, anywhere and no matter what.

*BOTH ARTISTS, FOR SCALE, STANDING IN FRONT OF THE LARGE SCALE COLLABORATIVE PAINTING AND TWO WORKS OF ARMACOST'S SCREENSHOTED FROM AN INSTAGRAM POST*