ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Oil and watercolor are my mediums of choice; however, I am currently experimenting with print making and animation as avenues through which to explore my conceptual interests and inform my approach to figurative painting. My appreciation for the impressionists and atelier style training is evident in my work’s level of realism and accentuation of light. However, I now strive to utilize detail more sparingly to highlight the narrative elements of my work, and my exploration of printmaking has taught me to surrender control and acknowledge the value of the element of chance; I work more loosely and allow for evidence of my process to remain past the underpainting. This stylistic melding of the real and the surreal is reflected in my thematic focus on both naturalistic depictions of fantastical scenes, and dreamlike interpretations of realities. Some of my subject matter is clearly imaginary, while other seemingly fictional elements I observed and photographed in my daily life to be used as references. My pieces tend to have a romantic, almost cinematic quality to them, hinting at a narrative, yet leaving the relationships between my characters and their environments ambiguous, allowing the viewer to invent their own explanation for what is occurring.

I am interested in selfishness and sacrifice, modern love stories and mythologies, a non-nostalgic “American dream”, dreams in general, beautiful things that are not only escapist, the feeling of home that is tied to a specific time rather than a place, doors and windows, performances, secrets, the unity of the classical and the contemporary, and other people’s family’s traditions.