You + Me
The relationship between nature and humans is alive, evolving like a complex organism. As an artist I try to name, define, and shape this connection through painting and installation. In “You and Me”, I turn inwards to explore my personal ties to the natural world - how it has impacted and defined me, and why I am drawn to certain subjects. In this installation I use a variety of media to tease out these connections - painting, drawing, painted forms, metal leaves, and found objects.
Over the past few years I have approached the language of paint by asking: what can painting do that only painting can do? Thinking in terms of expansion and contraction, I want paint to move and breathe through its application and color relationships. The fields of mark-making explore artificial depth and spatially collapse on the two-dimensional surface.
In the sculptural paintings, the paint becomes an object. These pieces are created in a process that feels more closely linked to drawing. I use a cake icing tool to squeeze paint into forms which I later rearrange to create new meaning.
The black and white drawings explore my more personal relationship to nature, many of which were made as a result of two recent residencies in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The opportunity to be a solo observer in a heavily touristed park led to deeper reflections about how I personally relate to nature. During the Manoog Family Artist-in-residency I was able to flesh out these observations with materials that bridge industrial remnants to paint and organic matter, especially through the use of plasma cutters in the sheet metal fabrication shop.
The spectrum between natural and man-made is explored throughout my work - from the paintings to the metal, lights and faux fur in the installations. We are the materialized consciousness of the natural world and my work seeks to find meaning in the experience of art and nature.