On Target Panic
Target Panic consists of 100 gouache drawings based on targets used in shooting practice and shooting competitions. The images were chosen to emphasize the abstract nature of the images; I view them as occupying at a previously unidentified intersection between abstract painting and American gun culture.
The title Target Panic, refers to a condition that affects competition shooters and archers, where after thousands of hours of practice the shooter is no longer able to keep a steady hand or shoot straight. Target Panic is a psychological affliction that severs the link between hand, mind and eye. In our current political climate we are told that everyone and everything is a danger, fear is our guide, and, overwhelmed as with threats to our safety, we are encouraged to forgo our values and reason itself. More broadly speaking, Target Panic can be seen as a metaphor for our present state of information overload in which we often find ourselves overwhelmed and unable to focus on a single target or objective.
