Allotropes is a series of graphite representations of a pear shaped diamond on paper juxtaposed with a wall drawing executed with handmade carbon chalk. There are as many as ten different cuts of this highly prized transparent mineral derived from carbon. Sharing its derivation with the diamond is graphite, making the material pair allotropes of carbon: pure forms of the same element that differ in structure.

 My interest in the iconography of the diamond is partially based in my painting practice, which has fore grounded the craft of paint making.  I have mined pigment sources including Iron oxides, copper oxides, calcium carbonates and Carbon from locations such as France, Peru, Brazil and my hometown of Ventura California. The reconstitution of these site-specific minerals into a painting medium connects the image to the painting process in an inextricable way.