my PAINTINGS

The original inspiration for my current body of work came from looking at op-art patterns. My paintings reference this genre of work in conjunction with semi realistic female figures. The patterning in my paintings is meant to achieve a variety of contrasting effects. The optical design can abstract and distort the certain aspects of the figures or it can become a descriptive element of the painting. My goal is for dissimilar textures, patterns, and shapes to interact with the forms in multiple ways. I want the colors and planes to coalesce with the figures and become unified as a single image, but I want the viewer to question the image. These patterns have an unpredictable nature, emerging in front of forms as well as receding to the background. I think one thing I’d like to experiment more with is a more physical application of paint. I think that if the patterning in my work became very textural it could contrast the physically descriptive nature of the figures. I think this dichotomy would create an interesting dialogue between the two contrasting elements. The female figures in my work are sexually charged. This is important to me because of the psychological impact it immediately has on the viewer. The idea behind the body of work I completed this summer was the idea of deleting. This was so the viewer was in charge of inferring what actually existed in the painting.

MY COLLAGES INTO PAINTINGS

Collage has become the starting point and inspiration for my most recent series of work. It is important to me that the collage itself starts out for me as a precious document. I choose to paint them for many reasons. The first reason is to unify the image, the images that I college together are from various sources. A lot of the time I pull from extremely diverse documents that have very different styles. Painting and drawing the collage allows me to interpret the image threw my own hand and touch. Another reason I choose to paint them is for scale. This work is much more effective to me at a size specific to the image rather than the size it is when I find it. I think that it is also important to me that the significance of the collage as an object I touch and manipulate during my work process. The importance of the original document as sort of a record. I don't manipulate the images on photoshop. Alot of the significance of these works for me comes from it origin in collage. I begin with found documents that by chance work together. I like the chance aspect of this work process, it is very poetic to me. I also like that collage allows me to come up with ideas that I wouldn't necessarily come to without this process. The way that train of thought is triggered by images and when you are more aware of these thoughts you can really become more in tune with what you think.

©

This painting is much larger than the source document. It is over 4 ft tall and about 3.5 feet long. This painting references the Wizard of Oz with the idea of the man behind the curtain. The two figures are somewhat equal in power both depicted at the head of the table. The women however has much more emphasis put on her with color and her body language.

©

This painting is about the size of a TV or animation cell. It is a representation of Snow White. Snow White is traditional symbolized with the colors red, black and white. The red represents passion, the white represents innocence and the black represents a symbolic death. I paralleled Snow White to a depiction of a religious icon, specifically the Virgin Mary. Her hands are positioned in front of her body like she is praying. The actually story of snow white can be paralleled to the resurrection of Jesus (Snow White dies and is brought back to life). The dwarfs are symbols of the seven moods of man. The are all positioned around her some look to a be admiring her.