I am an interdisciplinary visual artist, but my process is entrenched in drawing. It is the springboard to my creative ends as well as an honest and primal mechanism for my inner world to become tangible. With drawing rooted as a fundamental part of my life, the scale of the work I create manifests from the affection I have for this process. In my work off the page, I reinvent paper-based image making with a more diverse set of materials. By constructing modular forms and placing them into a two-dimensional framework, I am able to re-articulate my drawings into an alternative way of seeing. Like a stage set, I view my work on paper as larger than life and strive to give the viewer an equally grandiose yet bizarre experience.
The imagery I produce is focused on addictive behaviors ranging from lottery scratchers to the compulsive need to feed feral cats. While the undeniable excess of my work alludes to our individual and collective excesses, I often feel overwhelmed by the stuff I accumulate and the combined sea of things that society deems necessary. My work is not a reduction of these experiences, it is the visual embodiment. Much like a pile, it is densely layered and contains the notion that there is something marvelous to be found under the surface.
Years ago, my grandparents ran a waste disposal business in the rural town I grew up in. One of my earliest memories is of riding in my dad’s garbage truck. I was so small I could not see above the dashboard. During my childhood I was fascinated with what happens to our things once they are thrown away. I still am fascinated. Although I am far removed from that industry, it has been a consistent thread throughout my creative practice.
Photos and press release for this artist.
Residency: June 2015 - September 2015
Art Exhibition: Friday, September 18 & Saturday, September 19