THE SPACE BARN
In 2019, I picked up a brush to cover a ceiling crack, and I didn’t stop. What began as a weekend project became The Space Barn: part art learning studio, part late night trippy disco, part therapy room, part immersive installation… it’s whatever it needs to be to meet the moment.
It’s where I learned how to make art by basically running at it full speed ahead with the Execution is Strategy mindset. I hadn’t painted since middle school art class. I painted stuff. I made things by starting to make it and having the end reveal itself. A few years in I read a beautiful book by Rick Rubin that spoke to my joy of unbridled-but-applied creativity.
Not to get all Gladwell, but at this point I’ve invested over 10,000 hours learning what kind of artist I am supposed to be. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s lovely when someone does see the picture or story I might be trying to tell. People leave their thumbprints to become part of it. And because it is in perpetual change (e.g. a recently added LED waterfall) no two people experience it the same way.
In late 2023, I began creating work that could live outside the barn as well. I sold my first piece of art at the Color and Light Festival in May of 2025. The picture of the guy that bought the Tilly painting and a mask is down below.
Whether a hat, a sculpture, a mask, a painting, a lamp, or a found object, I build it in three distinct light phases—ambient light, UV black light, and glow-in-the-dark. Some things have more of one than than another, but it’s meant to be seen as one piece becomes that three distinct experiences, depending on the light we bring to it. Photographs reveal textures and surprises even the eye can miss, making each encounter participatory and unique.
Yeah, this will sound a bit woo, but these light transformations feel like the layers we all carry: In natural light we conform, in black light we perform, but the textures we keep hidden only show at night. I call it 3-Phase Luminism. My hands down favorite experience is to paint during the day with a general idea of what I expect under UV and in the dark. Turning the black light on listening to the some choice music, charging up a piece of work, and turning the light off to match the bass drop. Magical.
And if you ever want to visit, please do. If you drive by and the garage door’s open—and it looks like a UFO rave is in full swing (smoke machines, a couple lasers, questionable hats)—don’t be shy. That just means the lights are on and the weird is working. Come on in!!!
More is coming! Probably.
I keep telling myself to spend less time writing about what I want to make and more time actually making it. Progress is slow—but glowing. New work is always in motion, sometimes drying, sometimes charging under black light, sometimes just existing in my head until it’s ready to land.
If you’d like to see more, commission something, have me paint your bar, collaborate, or dream up something glowing, weird, or wonderfully unnecessary, I’d love to hear from you. Whether it’s an installation, a hat, or an idea that doesn’t fit neatly anywhere else, that’s my jam.
You can reach me at spacebarnart@gmail.com.
And if nothing else, check back every now and then. There’s always something buzzing, flickering, or humming to life in the barn—it just takes a little time (and often a fresh set of AA batteries).