UnSmoke Systems Artspace: The Last Steel Yard (2015)
UnSmoke Artspace Gallery
1137 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, PA 15104
Gallery Hours: Open during announced events or by appointment
This series of paintings emerged from a fascination with industry, decay, and the remnants of human intervention in landscapes and interiors. Over the past two years, I found myself drawn to the overlooked spaces—steel mills, weathered structures, suspended objects—that carry both the weight of labor and the quiet of abandonment.
The paintings reflect a tension between solidity and fragility. A rust-streaked pipe protrudes into an open field, inviting the viewer to peer into emptiness; scorched coals flicker with an undercurrent of violence. In contrast, there is a bird in flight, its movement captured against the harsh geometry of beams and dilapidated walls. These juxtapositions reflect a duality I have long been exploring: the push and pull of human ingenuity and the natural world’s reclamation.
In these works, I strive to find beauty in contrast—a space where the rawness of steel and the delicacy of light coalesce, where the world feels both weathered and alive.