Artist Statement
Through my work I seek to express the self, processing emotion, memory and trauma. My pieces are tangled in memories and feelings of pasts that I cannot necessarily begin to touch. The imagery focuses mainly on solitary, dream-like spaces that are not quite real but tangible enough to evoke a feeling that is familiar to us. My pieces range from landscapes to portraying intangible memories and feelings.
For years art as well as nature have been a means of escapism for me and so it has only made sense to combine the two in my work. My pieces take inspiration and are informed loosely from a variety of different artists and techniques from different time periods. Some of these inspirations include the use of string in Eva Hesse’s work, the texture in Van Gogh’s paintings, as well as the exploration of materials in Anselm Kiefer’s work. However, the most important informant of my work has always been nature itself as well as my own experiences and my own past.
Though the finished product is important, the process is even more so in my work. My pieces are often reflective of a certain mindset that I have at the time of creation. The way the marks are made, whether they are dissociative and broken, or more cohesive, show this state of mind and process in which the piece is created.
Repetition, specifically of circles, is an important device that constantly appears in my work. It is the motion that I am drawn towards first and then after comes the symbolism, particularly of the manifestation of selves that allowed me to escape from reality.
My color palette relies mainly on pastels, bold colors, and the occasional dark colors. The use of these colors help me to convey the dream-like, dissociative feeling across my body of work.
Ultimately my works are meant to express the feelings and process of trying to figure out how to live normally again after experiencing years of abuse. My practice explores memory and feeling deeply and is meant to showcase the process, including the use of painting combined with three dimensional materials, as much as it is meant to showcase the finished product. Ultimately, my art is meant to be emotionally healing.
