Can Tower I
oil paint on stretched canvas
14"x11"
35.6x28 cm
 
When the pandemic hit, it became impossible to continue my regular work and upended my life in many ways. In lockdown in Manhattan, I found myself alone and isolated, with no faces to paint. In fear of a food shortage, my family back in France encouraged me to stock up on canned food. Because of my precarious and haphazard living situation, these cans were my only true belongings in my new apartment. I began painting the stacks of cans exclusively, as a way to escape a heavy reality in which we are all stuck, alone, together. Because I am painting to render and understand my own experience, these cans took on elements of color, space, and form that my previous work alludes to. Having learned from master painters such as Cézanne, Bonnard, Giacometti, Auerbach, and others, I aim to create a sense of space in each of my works, which was particularly manipulatable with the cans. The towers of canned goods allowed me to picture a system that has proven to be worryingly unbalanced and fragile, each element at any moment could topple the rest to the floor. Each element at any moment could become spiritual and physical sustenance.