ARTIST STATEMENT

One of the most powerful, fragile, yet beautiful things in a human being is the heart. I see the heart as the core, the center of one’s life, both physically and spiritually.  

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Beauty is often attributed to having a moving experience of wonder/awe or as an encounter with something ordinary exposed as something extraordinary.  In the ordinary there is a dichotomy of strength and fragility; everything is finite.  Everything has some aspect of fragility and vulnerability. I intend to allow others an opportunity to encounter the beauty of the vulnerability of the heart. 

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I work mainly with oil on canvas, using the process of layering to achieve specific colors, light, and texture. I explore the way that colors and light reveal hidden beauty. I carefully construct my underpainting by creating a platform of layers that allow for a quality of light unique to each painting. This layering history in my painting process helps to reveal the overall visual experience.

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In my drawings, I create dense textures that itch the part of my brain that is dying to be scratched onto paper. Repetitive marks subtly scream the complexity of human nature from its ground to the viewer. 

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These processes of layering are very important to me, because, like us, a work is built up of many layers, and each one is vital to its outcome. 

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I am interested in beauty as an encounter, and so am exploring ways to use installations as a means to allow interactivity with my audience.