Artist Statement
Through the lens of perception, fluctuating between the miniscule and the grandiose, we find fear and wonder of the unknown, the invisible, and the uncontrollable. My paintings are an investigation of the interior world of the body where this wonder and fear, beauty and illness mingle in the same fluids and membranes. While I refer to documentary images from microscopic photographs and biology texts, the paintings themselves push the imaginative space that potentially exists beyond the threshold of the eye. Forging a connection between the microcosmic and macrocosmic, the paintings are invitations to contemplate topographical passages through our own internal depths.
The tensions between the scientific & the spiritual, the corporeal & the ethereal are what drive the work. My process includes layering translucent washes of color and building up a system of marks. As amorphous shapes bloom through the application of fluid pigment to wet surfaces, the marked ground references a stained biology slide. I proceed by applying tiny marks and patterns to create an ethereal space where particles gather and disperse in an endless cycle. In some areas these particles accumulate, and in the case of the works on panel, layers of silicone begin to grow, emerge, and cluster on the surface, mimicking how cells coalesce into tissues, cysts, and tumors. The result is the juxtaposition of the beautiful and the grotesque, images that both attract and repulse. While the subject matter suggests the seemingly inevitable possibility of illness and disease, the paintings serve as meditations on the exquisite and delicate balance of the natural world.
In this recent series of quasi-symmetrical works, I develop compositions more intuitively but use Photoshop, to crop, manipulate, and reflect the images over a vertical axis resulting in a mirrored arrangement. While I use these rigid digital sketches as the initial impetus for composition, the fluidity of the materials often disrupts a perfect bilateral symmetry. Fluctuating between organic fluidity and manipulated surfaces, I use this combination of techniques to speak about the tension between what we can and cannot control in our own physiology.
My interest in this work stems from growing up in a family of science & health practitioners, and my focus intensified when my mother was diagnosed with cancer five years ago. These recent paintings investigate a parallel between the feelings of defeat in losing my mother to this battle and a broader reflection on the relationship between spirit and matter.