Cargo
My current project examines cargo as a subject in itself, as a system, and as a lens to focus on concerns about globalization . Cargo containers are ubiquitous. They travel on the highways, railways and oceans. On trucks, trains and ships, containers circulate the globe, and cross boundaries with more ease than money or people. They are so common they are almost unseen, but they are also a symbol of contemporary life. Transporting goods from one place to another is the life’s blood of the globalized economy; the container is the vessel that makes this possible. The products in our lives, from your monitor to your couch to your bicycle, made their way around the world in one of these boxes.
These rectangular containers of corrugated metal need to be interchangeable, stackable and utilitarian. Their storage and transport has its own form and logic. I have made these paintings to explore their shape and use. I paint on paper and mylar, then cut and assemble the pieces. Through layering and collage, I construct the structures, buildings and landscapes in a process that creates illusionistic spaces.