Artist Statement

My art aligns with the historic tradition of exploring the body as a site of symbolic power. I am building a representational language stripped of the prevailing artistic conceit that only through processes of exploitation, reductionist manipulation, and dismemberment can truth be found. My work is a response and participation in contemporary image culture which encourages constant personal documentation. The people in my paintings are not symbols, subjects, or props for a grand message, as these modes prioritize concept over the humanity represented. I feel compelled to paint people as protagonists, attempting independence from the audience and artist's control.

My paintings are documentary snapshots of daily life; nothing feels alien or fantastical in them.  I build each piece with an ethical process which centers enthusiastic consent and personal agency.  When working with candid or staged shots of my community, the painting becomes a single frame in the protagonist’s story. When working from a paid model’s image, I experiment, within a consensual framework, with manipulation to investigate the power relationships of representation. People have trusted me with their image, an extension of their identity, and although it is my painting, it will always be their image.

I have moved away from historical glazing techniques to working in one layer on top of a vibrantly colored ground. The first decision represents the foundation of subjectivity on which all representation rests. I scrape into the surface to bring the background color forward and defy the illusion of objectivity which is often smuggled into representational painting. The protagonists and their environments are assembled like mosaics. By concentrating on the discrete, abstract pieces of color that make up an image, I increase the accuracy and limit my implicit biases as much as possible. I believe there is power in art that attempts to fully confront the world, even if it is one fragmentary snapshot at a time.