Exploring Mark-Making & Content
Spring 2022 | University Painting Portfolio
“Throughout my work, I find myself continually returning to mental health issues and self-image. I am constantly looking for various avenues to reflect the ideas of a distressed or wounded psyche and self-perception at a certain point in time. Emotions change, confidence shifts, and everything in life may be transient, but those changes all hold weight in our history and emotional development. Over time, the work reflects those shifts, the fluctuating ups and downs. The subject matter itself can be overwhelming and heavy at times, so to ease that weight, recent takes have contained a satirical sense of humor. The painted concepts are suggestive of a real, believable space, but not completely life-like, distorted in a way we would experience in our dreams. Using paint, mediums, stencils, and stamps, I create a layered atmosphere that serves as a representation of the layers we are made up of as well as the current state of mind in each piece. The body of work is constructed to understand the essence of humanity and its imperfections and how we are all made up of layers. Other than being a form of coping, the intent of the work is to communicate feelings that are not easily verbalized or given a voice at all and to resonate with viewers who deal with similar issues. We never truly know what lies beneath the surface until we force ourselves to look at ourselves more closely. My ideas originate from my own experiences, but once those ideas are on a canvas, it develops into its own thing that can be viewed as a universal experience. I take inspiration from Andrew Salgado’s use of vibrant colors, layered textures, and patterns in excess, as well as from Juliana Coles as she cuts, pastes, draws over, and puts back together components of the piece to create her compositions in a collage-like manner. Covering the surface area in thin layers of paint, layers upon layers of spreading, scraping away, leaving indentations and stencil markings, and dabbing paint onto a canvas, I create work by making my inner dialogue a visual representation.”
THEY KEEP STARING AT ME
Oil on Canvas
28” x 28”
Coping
Oil Paint, Paper Media, and Oil Pastels on Canvas
24” x 48”
Rumination
Oil Paint, Paper Media, and Oil Pastels on Canvas
24” x 48”
Exhibited in ArtsPlace Gallery, Lexington, KY
May 20 - July 7, 2022
Diptych: Rumination and Coping
Aurora’s Hymn
Spray Paint, Acrylic Paint, Oil Paint, and Oil Pastels on Canvas
9” x 12”
Untitled
Oil Paint, Oil Pastels on Masonite Board
Shifting
Oil Paint, Oil Pastels, and Frames on Canvas
28” x 22’’
All My Friends Are Strangers
Oil Paint and Embroidery Floss on Canvas
16” x 20”