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ARTIST STATEMENT
All my work is fundamentally dedicated to the art of painting. Whether my work takes the most traditional form of oil paint on canvas or expands and explores boundaries by utilizing paper, wood, plastic, steel or forms of installation, it will always come back to paint.
Fundamentally and conceptually, all my work explores issues of self-identity. I have used myself as a subject as well as people that I have met. Children, adolescents, old people and young, all are used to the same end which is my own, and our own, image identification. How do I see myself? How do you see yourself? Although it is my journey, I believe it is a journey that belongs to all of us as we move through our lives: putting on masks, choosing our friends and acquaintances, and looking into our mirrors.
IN LINE SERIES PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER
These works from my In Line/Line Up series depict young girls who barely touch each other, along with the juxtaposition of color with black and white. The grey girl draws the viewer’s attention because she seems out of place and not in line. This child without flesh color stands out, disturbing the orderliness of the line. The work asks what keeps individuals and therefore society in line and what does it mean to step out of line? These paintings explore our search for our personal and societal identities. Is our suppression of individual identity in favor of our public identity necessary for acceptance and success?
I depict adolescent and young girls because I believe it is just at this time in life that we are seeking and experimenting most with identity. I don’t think we ever grow beyond our adolescent selves. All of us remain perpetual adolescents seeking acceptance and love. We spend our lives looking to find the place that we best fit in and to find an identity that, we hope, will bring us our happiness. But the final form of our identity remains in the hands of others. It is the outsiders’ interpretation of us that matters. Our identity does not come solely from inside but is represented in how others see us. We are at the mercy of others. The adolescent girl knows this, but we as adults choose to deny the truth and proselytize that you should not judge a book by its cover.
This series consists of both works on paper and works on canvas. The works on paper are done with gouache/graphite and measure no more than 7 inches on one side. The paintings are done with oil and vary in size from as small as 8 inches up to 76 inches.
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