Artist Statement
In my work, I aim to explore the relationship between government and the safety of their people. I use the aesthetics of graffiti as a form of political protest. My use of images, from tragic historical events to the war in Iraq, aims to display my underlying question: How safe are we?
My paintings use abstraction as a metaphor for misinformation within mainstream news. The process used draws parallels with the way information changes when it is presented to the public. I often use disturbing war photos I have been given by soldiers and abstract them by creating simplified digital illustrations, which are projected, traced, and cut to make positive and negative shapes. I then create a non-representational, multi-layered painting and adhere these shapes to the canvas. This is followed by another painting over the entire image in which the adhered shapes are then removed. This creates a representation of the digital image from the painting on the previous layer. I will often project the digital illustration onto the canvas and paint back into the work.
My photomontages aim to explore the same relationships between government and their people, but by different means. I aim to create settings for ambiguous narratives to unfold. I manipulate photos obtained online as well as photos I have taken to create a mock photo journalistic image. My photos are developed to take on a staged quality, which creates tension between cinematic and documentary photography. Often bordering on absurdity, I aim to question our safety through an embellished perspective.
Portfolio: Paintings
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Drawings
Digital Illustrations
Photomontages
