"My previous work was exploring the sarcastic, sardonic sense of humor to disarm that masculinity. Here, I think it was a little bit more earnest about the eros around the figure, and I think it had everything to do with the color palette, this cadmium red that gives this sort of erotic tension, and signals to this draggy sort of culture, where the chaps become go-go boots."
"I wanted to be deliberate about making a body of work that felt like it was occurring at the same time of day, creating an ambiance and insisting on the cadmium red and blue jeans and these moments of color that ignite. I was trying to figure out how color relations could signify, conceptually, eros. So everything is in service of that cadmium red."
Feeling stuck, the painter returned to a familiar cowboy subject and developed the Ramón series, shifting from sardonic parody toward earnest eroticism. The new work centers a cadmium-red palette that creates erotic tension and nods to drag-inflected culture, transforming chaps into go-go boots. Sensuousness is foregrounded after a previous avoidance of romanticizing masculinity. The series insists on a fantastical, ambiguous setting and a consistent time-of-day ambiance to let recurring color relations ignite moments of feeling. Color functions conceptually to signify eros, with cadmium red framing the crotch and the ass, making approach and palette the work's driving force.
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