watching my breath, artist statement | 2023-Present
I am an avid nature lover and oil painter who is fascinated by interaction – the way that emotion, body language, and connection impact the way a person can perceive moments. I am interested in the ideas of perspective and intuition; all humans are unique and yet we all experience unspoken connections to each other throughout our lives no matter the culture, gender, or belief system. It’s what inevitably binds us together.
In my current series, I am highlighting what has not been said – the connections that people can possess: with nature, with each other, and with oneself. I am finding my niche in recreating these intimate connections through paint, emphasizing them through the use of color, pattern, and light. I am exploring the idea of watching a moment unfold – observing how others interact and experiencing the beauty of innate human connection from afar.
In Still, artist statement | 2021-2023
As an oil painter, I have been trained in utilizing light and dark values to construct objects, people, and moods out of paint. I am intrigued by the feeling of color; in the way light takes on different shapes; how those shapes are altered by the physical objects they drip upon. What draws me to shaped light is its fleeting movement, the desire to take a second look only to realize the scene has already passed. I do not create spaces, I seek them out as they naturally exist. These sought out places usually possess intense direct light, which further draws out a painting’s emotional tone. Light is most emotional at the start and end of the day, a time when the most important events occur. This series is as much about the moments we experience as it is about memory and perspective. We run out the door to get to work on time and miss a sunrise climbing up the wall. No moment is the same as the last or the next; my current series reflects that impermanence. As time is ever-changing so, too, are the spaces we occupy, which may mean painting the same couch multiple times over. My oil paintings expose the everyday moments that are too often dismissed, bringing them to the forefront of our attention (before we miss the chance to live in them).
windows are just holes, artist statement | 2021
I am an oil painter who values curiosity inspired by ambiguity:
the line between illusion and reality.
I am a composer of texture, color, and space;
interested in creating art that references the relevance of
historical painting as well as the theme of religion through
technical, spatial relationships.
Religion has been viewed through many lenses throughout history,
and my paintings emphasize the illusions of faith.
What we see is not the full picture,
but pieces of a broken entity.
Because we can’t fully understand all aspects of a higher being,
my personal experience with religion is inevitably fragmented.
The lived experience of faith is reflected in the
fragmentation of images in my paintings.
I begin my process by creating abstract collages,
piecing together symbolic shapes, colors, and ideas,
including many that involve squares or “holes.”
Windows are a common symbol in faith,
perhaps alluding to a doorway or screen which is set between
oneself and the divine.
Windows unavoidably divide what is
tangible and what is inaccessible.
After making these small sculptural collages,
I paint them realistically on two-dimensional surfaces:
unstretched canvas, tarp, or other non traditional material,
further “piecing together” the illusion.
In the paintings themselves, there is a feeling of depth due to the
use of shadow, light and darkness:
a persistent, unsettling feeling of unknown;
a familiar sensation.
Through my process, I put the pieces of various materials and concepts together,
not from one source but from many and present them as
an incomplete whole.