Artmaking is not a static endeavor. Why should my statement be carved in stone?

My work oscillates between realism and symbolism, optimism and pessimism, and some combination of it all. Meticulous observation is important to me, and I realize my obsession with detail is a prevailing constant as I tend to different subjects. Time spent keenly looking and learning, especially outdoors, is the basis of my process. I'm endlessly attracted to little critters, textures, contrasts – all the decay and growth found in the wild as well as mundane places like the Kroger parking lot. I'm interested in efforts to obscure anthropocentric thinking altogether (ask me about the wilderness of my tiny, concrete patio or area beneath the stairwell). I value slowing down, dedicating spaces to recharge so that we may remain attentive to our communities and committed to deconstructing unjust structures of power. (Billionaires and their politicians cannot save us. We must save us.) Therefore, I approach artmaking both as an opportunity to appreciate quaint or amusing moments, and as a space to confront patterns – literal and figurative, internal and external – and complexities that may speak to something more universally human.

That said, my work is about me, often functioning as visual memoir. Though I do enjoy making portraits, I don't claim to represent anyone else's experience. I arrange memories and musings from a vast personal archive into imagined spaces to make painted collages (sometimes calling the more bizarre or emotional landscapes “moodscapes”), while using my own photographs for reference as often as possible. And I prefer group shows to solo shows; art is most beautiful to me when different perspectives, interpretations, disciplines, and media engage with one another, revealing unexpected conversations.

collaboration > competition