Fine Art
A Touch of Madness
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My work is both intuitive and expressive, and it depends on my current state of being. Even works that are created out of formal interests, such as alla prima portraits, are tackled with marks that simply "feel right" at the time of application. My process varies. Sometimes it begins with a concept, sometimes a formal concern, and other times it is determined by the media in which it will be executed. Experimentation and play across media, the technical mastery of various mixed media, and conceptual transmission are my joy and my inspiration.
As a drawing major, my work began as observational drawing using mainly vine charcoal on paper. As my work began to include conceptual elements, it also began to demand new means of creation by use of additional media. A drawing is always the initial skeleton of a work, but playing the mad scientist from that point on is where my interest truly begins.
I like to work in a variety of media to express texture, volume, or emotion. Some of my influences are printmaker Käthe Kollwitz, painter and printmaker Michael Mazur, ceramicist Ahrong Kim, interdisciplinary artist Clara Lieu, and artist and illustrator Raymond Petition. I like that their works are expressive and revolve around the artists' experience, and that they do not necessarily exist within what we perceive as reality or a believable space. Approaching work in this way allows me to focus on how I can connect and relate to others and share my experience. I take inspiration from the everyday, personal experience, politics and social commentary, post-modernist literature, and classical and punk rock music. My work does not target a specific audience--it is meant to relate on some emotional level with anyone, be it through humor, subject matter, or simply by the way a mark has been made.
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Forget-Me-Not (A Body of Memories)
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Everyone struggles with the reality of memory over time. There are certain memories that we all carry with us in clarity. Memories such as connections to animals and loved ones, and those associated with powerful emotions such as grief or shame.
This body of work focuses on my experience after brain trauma resulting from a transient ischemic attack, often referred to as a mini-stroke, in which my memory was severely damaged. Communicating how I experience life and the world around me now is almost impossible with words. I am a visual thinker living with virtually no visual memory; my working memory is tactile--I remember how things physically feel. Memories involving animals--particularly the illness and death of my rabbit--I can recall well. Others, such as memories of my childhood and of my deceased family members, are vague. The emotions with all of these, however, are still poignant. I work in a wide variety of media to express texture, volume, or emotion. I want the viewer to feel what I've experienced because our feelings are universal, even if we experience them differently.
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