00000: New Paintings and Letterpress Works

00000 opens on April 2, 2026 at The Union Hall (2216 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222) with a reception from 6 to 9PM.

Sometime in 2025, I became interested in old things. I found myself in the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles in Rouen, France, surrounded by centuries-old keys, chests, door knockers, and barber’s scissors, all fashioned in wrought iron. These items dated back to the 14th and 15th and 16th centuries. They hinted at mysteries—for example, the secret key of the Duke Christian Louis II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin could be dismantled and reshaped into a tool. Superficial understandings were not the whole story. Understanding was near, but still hidden. But more than that, these items provided proof that an idea and its physical embodiment could exist for centuries. 

Frightened by Revelations, 2024, framed.

This idea of sustained existence is quite appealing these days, what with life in America resembling a waking nightmare. Basic necessities—food, shelter, autonomy—feel at risk, temporary. Government-driven violence, exacted with an uneven volatility, most directly targeted at the backbone of America (immigrants), especially those with black and brown skin, churns constantly. And the fangs of an omnicidal, white power administration have been set on any system (food, health, air, water) that allows for sustained life. 

As such, in these times, we cling to community. During the summer of 2025, artist Natalia Gomez and I met regularly to talk about art and encourage each other to make new works. While the letterpress works in this show were completed with the assistance of Haylee Ebersole at Meshwork Press in 2023 and 2024, the large paintings were a direct result of the encouragement that grew from our meetings. Our efforts culminated in an art dinner with friends, where we both showed and discussed our new works. During a between course dinner break, our group collected in my studio to discuss two of the long paintings. Soon after this show came together.

Scene from the studio.

These paintings suggest scenes of permanence and adaptation. Evidence of human-made structures, often rendered in an anti-perspective manner, are embedded into formations of mountains, waterfalls, and volcanos. There is a common language among the works, alluding to a shared world—a fantasy with unreal physics, pockets of mystery, and a general quietness.

Thanks to Andrew, Shelby, and the Bar Marco team; Lin Clark; Bottom Feeder Books, Haylee Ebersole, and Andrew William Allison; Steph St. Aubin; Natalia Gomez and the dinner party-goers—Lenka Clayton, Phillip Andrew Lewis, Amy Weiland, and Ryan; and Boxheart Gallery.