Everything that has meaning in my life influences the art I create – the media I consume, the people I admire, and all that I see, hear, feel, and experience. Looking at the work of my influences can feel like being baptized. A song lyric can evoke a visceral reaction in me, like the author intimately understands my life and experiences, even without knowing me personally. Seeing Tracey Emin’s scraggly and vulnerable phrases over fragmented drawings, I physically feel their meaning from her perfect expression. The first time I encountered a Ryan McGinley photo of himself with a bloody nose, shaved head, and joyous grin, it immediately belonged to me. I didn’t know the people in his photographs, nor was I alive during that time, but I felt the love and meaning that was present between him and his subjects.
I hope that the meaning I put into my art can affect others, no matter their interpretation of it. I’ve worked in painting, drawing, photography, collage, drypoint etching, screen and block printing, and metalsmithing. Some concepts I’ve explored in my pieces include idolization, projection, autonomy, and connection. These ideas and the feelings that accompany them drive my work. They are born from my personal experiences, and my artwork is a process of integrating them with visual elements I’m drawn to. Although I try to visually structure my pieces, they contain a certain scrappiness that I possess within myself but don’t directly try to capture. My art comes from inside of me, and sometimes a finished piece contains parts of myself that I’m not able to process until I see it in front of me.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues 20 x 24 in, Acrylic on canvas
Kim Cross 8 x 11 in, Acrylic on cardboard
Plowing Into the Field of Love 6.5 x 6.5 in, clay tile and acrylic paint
Monkey Love Postcard 4 in x 6 in, screenprinted postcard