JULY 22, 1953-2024

In 2024, July 22nd was reported as the hottest day ever recorded globally. This series charts that single date across 72 years—from 1953 to 2024
—tracking temperatures in 24 American cities as they travel from the Pacific Northwest to the Florida Keys. Each painting contains 72 horizontal stripes, one quarter-inch each, stacked chronologically from top to bottom.
Moving left to right across each panel, six cities unfold west to east, creating a temperature landscape of the continental United States.
The stripes function as both data visualization and terrain—a chromatic topography where reds bleed into black above 93°F, oranges hover in the high 70s to low 80s, yellows mark the 60s and low 70s, greens the 50s, blues the 40s.
Between each stripe, a carved line. Beneath each year, a deeper groove painted the color of that day's low temperature, positioned proportionally within the stripe.
These carved lines reveal a quieter story: the arid West cools dramatically at night, while eastern humidity holds the heat. As the decades progress, the nighttime respite gets less cool everywhere.
The hottest temperature recorded across all 72 years and 24 cities: 111°F in Tucson, Arizona, 2023.
Paintings are carved into half-inch birch plywood, 18" x 28.5" each. Viewers read temperature as color and a single day across seven decades as evidence of a changing environment.
Painted with Golden Flat Acrylics, edges included.

Spokane, Helena, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Boston

Portland, Boise, Omaha, St. Louis, Columbus, Washington DC

Reno, Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Atlanta, Charleston, SC

Bakersfield, Tucson, San Antonio, New Orleans, Tallahassee, Key West

HOME