Statement
My work is in a style I consider abstracted realism. I typically paint large figurative work in vibrant colors with parts missing or distorted. I’m concerned with loss and how we as humans are still hopeful and optimistic in the ever-present face of it (loss of time, youth, opportunity and relationships, along with the more dire types). We find beautiful and courageous ways to get up in the morning and look forward to the day, knowing we will be faced with tragedy in either the distant or near future. Toni Morrison once said, “Sometimes you don't survive whole, you just survive in part. But the grandeur of life is that attempt.” (Morrison 0:20-0:50) This work is an effort to acknowledge and honor those of us who haven’t survived whole. We’ve lost parts, we are permanently scarred, our life will never look exactly how we thought it would. But in a way we are more aware of how lucky we are to be alive. There’s an appreciation and gratitude for our lives that comes with that loss.
I address this in both subject matter and technique. My subject matter typically consists of everyday moments, a child in a swimming pool, playing dress up, a family on vacation. But the expressions or gestures are immobilized in a perilous balance between joy and grief. They are incredibly transient moments that will quickly end, then dissolve to exist only in memory. I’m intrigued by the discordant feelings these memories conjure. How is it possible to feel both grateful for and mourning the loss of this time in the same exact moment?
My technique typically includes leaving out parts of the subject matter, letting the vibrant, distorted background come through, layer over and erase parts of the subject. This incites the feeling of being scarred, of having lost parts of something or someone. By creating these “scars” in vibrant, beautiful colors, I hope to stimulate a progression of nostalgia, that is, emotions of grief then joy and gratitude.
*Morrison, Toni. “A Conversation Between Toni Morrison and Frank McCourt.” Moderated by Juan Williams. YouTube, uploaded by The Connecticut Forum, 4 May 2001, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xvJYrSsXPA