Artist Statement
My artwork is a metaphor for how the brain categorizes, juxtaposes and seemingly illogically organizes visual information. By researching the meaning and history of symbols, archetypes, the collective unconscious, as well as dreams and memories, I explore the way the psyche reveals information to us. Only through a deep investigation of my psyche can I begin to observe the history that has shaped me.
I use an intuitive approach to art making and rely on my instincts to create ambiguous narratives that indirectly describe the inner workings of my mind. The most effective way to access my subconscious is to examine a collection of both contemporary and historical images from books, magazines and photographs and then dissect the meaning. As I engage with certain images I am drawn into a place in my mind that is both emotionally charged and yet not immediately identifiable. I experience an urgent need to visually describe these feelings through my knowledge of these images by creating a narrative. The narrative always involves a female figure, animals, inanimate objects and flat color and pattern in an imaginary domestic space or landscape. I use a wide range of media as well as mark-making techniques to create a collage aesthetic. This method allows me to juxtapose contradictory images and embrace stylistic differences. If I try to pre-meditate the pieces too much they lose the excitement and mystery and I stop learning from them. The drawing is alive while I am making it and revealing the inner workings of my psyche.
My drawings contain a vast array of symbols elaborately layered in space and this charged environment is an active opportunity for me to open a portal between levels of consciousness and visual representation. I reference Carl Jung and his thoughts and theories on this psychological subject matter. It is Jung’s understanding that symbols are not consciously invented by the ego, but appear spontaneously from the collective unconscious. Trying to understand the realm of the collective unconscious provides a way for me to look beyond individual consciousness, which is of a personal nature, to tap into a more universal source of symbols, rich in meaning. The symbols in my artwork are transient and have multiple meanings for multiple viewers.
The narratives I construct always revolve around one or more female figures. There is a calling within each of my drawings to explore and understand what it means to me to be female. Although the women I render do not represent any one person in particular, there is always a part of me described in each character I create. I invent women that I hope will teach me about what it means to be a woman. The stories I tell intuitively are not just my own, but that of my mother, my grandmother and the women that have permeated my life. These women are my friends and family members, but they are also women I identify with from history. I have read several books about uniquely female experiences throughout different time periods, cultures and political and social milieus and these stories also trickle into my narratives. When I draw women, what I am most interested in is confronting and dismantling a history of societal expectations that keep women from being the complicated, complex and ambiguous individuals that they are today and always have been.
These highly personal investigations at times border on the absurd and the nonsensical. The lack of static meaning in these narratives affords me many opportunities to find new epiphanies within them long after they have been made. These dreamlike spaces and imaginary worlds allow me to pursue a greater investigation into my psyche and in turn my identity. Through this search for meaning I can also present a coded mystery into which my viewers can insert themselves, requiring them to ask questions about their own visual history. I believe a continuous challenge of the notions of self is what we need to understand who we are and how we fit into this world with each other.
My artwork is a metaphor for how the brain categorizes, juxtaposes and seemingly illogically organizes visual information. By researching the meaning and history of symbols, archetypes, the collective unconscious, as well as dreams and memories, I explore the way the psyche reveals information to us. Only through a deep investigation of my psyche can I begin to observe the history that has shaped me.
I use an intuitive approach to art making and rely on my instincts to create ambiguous narratives that indirectly describe the inner workings of my mind. The most effective way to access my subconscious is to examine a collection of both contemporary and historical images from books, magazines and photographs and then dissect the meaning. As I engage with certain images I am drawn into a place in my mind that is both emotionally charged and yet not immediately identifiable. I experience an urgent need to visually describe these feelings through my knowledge of these images by creating a narrative. The narrative always involves a female figure, animals, inanimate objects and flat color and pattern in an imaginary domestic space or landscape. I use a wide range of media as well as mark-making techniques to create a collage aesthetic. This method allows me to juxtapose contradictory images and embrace stylistic differences. If I try to pre-meditate the pieces too much they lose the excitement and mystery and I stop learning from them. The drawing is alive while I am making it and revealing the inner workings of my psyche.
My drawings contain a vast array of symbols elaborately layered in space and this charged environment is an active opportunity for me to open a portal between levels of consciousness and visual representation. I reference Carl Jung and his thoughts and theories on this psychological subject matter. It is Jung’s understanding that symbols are not consciously invented by the ego, but appear spontaneously from the collective unconscious. Trying to understand the realm of the collective unconscious provides a way for me to look beyond individual consciousness, which is of a personal nature, to tap into a more universal source of symbols, rich in meaning. The symbols in my artwork are transient and have multiple meanings for multiple viewers.
The narratives I construct always revolve around one or more female figures. There is a calling within each of my drawings to explore and understand what it means to me to be female. Although the women I render do not represent any one person in particular, there is always a part of me described in each character I create. I invent women that I hope will teach me about what it means to be a woman. The stories I tell intuitively are not just my own, but that of my mother, my grandmother and the women that have permeated my life. These women are my friends and family members, but they are also women I identify with from history. I have read several books about uniquely female experiences throughout different time periods, cultures and political and social milieus and these stories also trickle into my narratives. When I draw women, what I am most interested in is confronting and dismantling a history of societal expectations that keep women from being the complicated, complex and ambiguous individuals that they are today and always have been.
These highly personal investigations at times border on the absurd and the nonsensical. The lack of static meaning in these narratives affords me many opportunities to find new epiphanies within them long after they have been made. These dreamlike spaces and imaginary worlds allow me to pursue a greater investigation into my psyche and in turn my identity. Through this search for meaning I can also present a coded mystery into which my viewers can insert themselves, requiring them to ask questions about their own visual history. I believe a continuous challenge of the notions of self is what we need to understand who we are and how we fit into this world with each other.