ARTIST STATEMENT

“If we are to understand the human condition, and if we are to accept ourselves in all the complexity, self doubt, extravagance of feeling, guilt, joy, the slow freeing of the self to its full capacity for action and creation, both as human being and as artist, we have to know all we can about each other, and we have to be willing to go naked.”                                                                   -May Sarton

Emotions, sexuality, beauty, culture, vulnerability…and my need to simplistically express and bring awareness to it all,  the extreme and common experience, this is my art practice. My work is fueled by lack of understanding, yet strive to know the complexity of the human condition. I create works that range from installation, sculpture and painting, charcoal, pencil and pen, collage, as well as digital photography. The material I choose for each of my art pieces is carefully thought out. I choose my medium based on what medium I believe will best express the meaning I want to portray in my works. I continue to develop my technical skills by learning from my peers and by taking risks. I am always ready to experiment with a new material that I can add to my tool belt of art techniques. Although I use a variety of materials and processes in each project, they are unified by subject matter their theme: The human condition. I am known for my nude figures. While most of my works are female nudes, many are impressionist and abstract, and often, my nude works don’t come across as figures at all. They are the articulation of feeling and state of understanding.

I have explored the human body and various themes through researching definitions of beauty in various cultures and during my own international travels.  I have also studied artists that explore similar themes to mine, by looking at ways of expressing my themes such as distortion: we are distorted by society and we distort each other. My opinion at this point is that we all struggle with accepting ourselves and each other.  The gap between self and other can be seen and explored visually.