Can You Help Me Find The Remote? (2019)
![Let Me Be Your Holly, (2019). Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 x 2 in.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/edf5f344df18f2d9d159971c3f993a73d34cd72340a8882176bb4b57176e1727/FD-2019-_0.jpg)
In the body of work, Can You Help Me Find The Remote? (2019), I create compositions that contrast heteronormative imagery with homoerotic imagery through the continual reference of various romantic films from the history of cinema. In this project, I focus on films that revel in the campy and overtly sappy American idealizations of what love is historically defined as. Due to these films as pop-culture symbols, I acknowledge their original format by painting the effect of a translucent film layer over an eerie landscape with a limited color palette. The film layer is formally inspired by “screen caps”, popularized by social media sites such as Tumblr and Twitter. Screen caps traditionally feature frames of a scene with stylized closed captioning, which informs the viewer of the spoken dialogue. Through painting these various compositions, I disrupt the historic tradition of landscape painting by creating scenes that simultaneously blur and heighten the differences between heterosexual and homosexual narratives. When a straight narrative is presented with a gay narrative, I investigate the inherent value determinations that arise from having one narrative superimposed over another. By generating environments from multiple sources, I present a body of work that asks the viewer to assess which narrative deserves the most importance.
![I was never flying, Jack. (2019). Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 x 2 in](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0fa3bd913fe74ffe45f22ce88c233a5015779fa2b0af0b80c7fdea6652387a2c/FD-2019-_3.jpg)
![(Detail) I was never flying, Jack. (2019). Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 x 2 in](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2eff6c2d4f042ce330f5d385b1a9710d8027e29a0c9af16c6808dd1cded82e68/IMG_9614.jpg)
![(Detail) I was never flying, Jack. (2019). Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 x 2 in](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/322e509e061ceca104ddef9d412f3850d38552bb5e5d40d98749a26aa41555c6/IMG_9615.jpg)
![yOu wRoTe mE??? (2019) Oil on canvas. 66 x 90 x 2 in](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ab4a64d5b45493da3c720682a6bedd3902c15892ab747939c87aa07d54a43385/FD-2019-_4.jpg)
![Kiss me, Scarlett (2019). Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 x 2 in](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4af2185d711a623f5aa4211807df3275e034fe4710fb734c5e602fa4a1c00995/FD-2019-_1.jpg)
![Ohhh, Baby? (2019). Oil on canvas. 48 x 48 x 2in](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9fc7bcdf9172d484fffe20d046a4abb724b55144a97c9bd9d9a957c07c1b0b68/FD-2019-_2.jpg)
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Do not reproduce without written consent.