Hardware Store Paintings

2024-ongoing

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A series of paintings made in collaboration with various hardware stores where one can purchase paint. Within this series I have created two projects, the first of which involves entering

a hardware store and requesting a paint store employee to create an unpredictable color of

paint. Despite being a paying customer, my request is not always granted because it falls

outside of the pre-existing transactional expectations of the space. Sometimes the store is too busy and the worker is unable to enter the mindset required to apply the necessary creative or critical thinking effort toward my request, sometimes the autonomy granted by the request

frightens them and they refuse it as insincere or unsanctioned. But then there are the ones who

are willing. Their eyes light up and a smile appears across their face as I explain the purpose of

what I am asking them to do. 

 

Through negotiation we arrive at a color. Each case is different. Sometimes they fool around

with the paint machine to create something unpredictable based on inputs of tint ratios, formula variances, or experimenting with the amount of paint already in a can. Some have a good enough understanding of the capabilities of their paint machine and attempt to land on a color

that might be in their mind, perhaps reflecting an emotion or an idea. In each case, dialogue is

central to the outcome. The resulting paint color is then used to create a painting, the title of

which, is the name of the employee who created the color.

 

The second type of paintings utilize unwanted paints. Often at a hardware store you can find old

cans of paint in the back of the building or near the paint counter, sometimes marked down in

price. Mixed paint can be rejected for many reasons including tinting errors, incorrect color

matches, or customer returned paint. They are usually horrendous colors or chemically unstable

and can sometimes have emulsification, translucency, or drying problems that lead to cracking, clumping, or uneven distribution of pigments. For each of these paintings, I use an unwanted color and include the street name of the hardware store that I bought the paint from in its title.