And we? the whole great world abandoned
                                            for nothing at all, intact.
the lost world of symmetry
                                            and grace...
 

On an ongoing basis, my work addresses human expectations and conceptions of landscape via our desire for paradise: where we seek paradise, the failure to find it, what kind of landscape exists in its stead, and how we reconcile ourselves to "life outside the garden."

the whole great world reimagines the tradition of pastoral landscape painting. From the Dutch painters of the 17th century to the Hudson River School of the 19th, artists have used the landscape to frame their understanding of the relationship of man and nature. Throughout these canvases, the central struggle seems to be whether man dominates nature, nature dominates man, or the two coexist in an expression of mutual respect and fear.

The photographs of the whole great world move this central struggle into a contemporary arena. At rest stops, city beaches, and state parks, people search for the "rest and relaxation" we have come to expect of nature. Yet this solace seems hard to come by, as we are never, both physically and psychically, far from civilization. The imperfections and isolation of contemporary life press in on the edges of the photographs (if they aren't in the frame already). Beauty is fleeting and irreparably flawed, but it is there.
 

The most marvelous is not
                                      the beauty, deep as that is,
but the classic attempt
                                       at beauty
at the swamp's center: the
                                       dead-end highway, abandoned
when the new bridge went in finally.

     -William Carlos Williams
    from "The Hard Core of Beauty"

All images are 30"x40" type c-prints.