Artist’s Statement
Pulling imagery and motif from organic form, architecture, media and design I create densely layered, mixed-media paintings that are invested in experimentation and grounded in traditional painting and craft. I’m interested in the overlap of nature and culture and the patterns present in both, as well as the color and spatial relationships that develop through process.
Using painting and printmaking techniques, I interweave drawing and collage with a variety of media. Simultaneously painterly and constrained, my paintings are composed of complex layers, many of which are over-painted and concealed. A prominent element of my work is the application of thousands of beads of paint, painstakingly and individually applied with a brush and used to create screens and patterns. My work is best described as abstract painting with botanical and architectural references, as the pieces suggest natural forms (birds, leaves, branches), man made structures (buildings, windows, lights) and patterning both natural and designed (woven fabrics, strata of earth, pixels).
My paintings are visual collections of moments from daily life: combined glimpses, thoughts, memories and objects. I am trying to describe not only what things look like through the filter of my personal perspective, but also to create a sense of how they might feel. My works are emotional and imperfect, and as objects they embody my direct response to things mass produced and idealized. As handmade things, they are individual, imprecise and therefore unique. Perfection is unattainable, which is the inherent quality that continues to engage me in painting.
