New Direction : "Form and Function" (2021-2022)

In my practice I use collage, sculpture, and painting to explore psychological phenomena, American culture, and the human condition more broadly. I balance work and play by dabbling in diverse media and styles. I define my style as being seasonal, as I work on several bodies of work at once, but pivot my attention to whatever work best serves the demands of the times and my soul.

During the COVID pandemic my work was very focused on mental health and consumerism as a means of coping, but after becoming pregnant in June 2021, the focus of my life and work has shifted. In response, I’m creating a body of work called “Form and Function”, which analyzes the role of “female” body parts as both organs and ornaments. This body of work is made up of three series: one in sculpture, one in paint, and one in collage. 

The first sub-series under this title includes a series of 9-12 resin body castings documenting the most drastically changed areas of my body (my breast, butt, stomach, and maybe genitals) before, after, and during my pregnancy. I acknowledge the way my body has become a resource to my unborn baby by adding bright food stickers reading “made fresh daily”, “rich in calcium”, and “organic” as well as produce bags to these replicas. I show these replicas along with sculptures composed of mounted fruit stuffed inside of now ill-fitting bras.

The second sub-series is composed of three large paintings, which aim to show the ways in which the “female” body is sexualized and de-sexualized through motherhood. I will do this by semi-realistically painting three breastfeeding mothers, one being myself. In each painting both of the mother’s breasts are exposed, but the one actively feeding the child is pixelated while the other is left in full, clear view. The aim is to comment on the way breasts in American society are sexually objectified in some circumstances, while rejected and censored in others.

The final sub-series to be exhibited with these prior two bears and alternative name “The Fertile Myrtles”. Using bright colors and vintage home & garden and porn magazines, I’m creating a series of 12 collages in which sexualized self-identifying females take ownership over  their relationships, self-image, and bodies. They incorporate the theme of pregnancy and fertility in multiple scenarios including surrogacy, single parenthood, IVF. 

"Urban Legend" (work in progress) (2020)

This is a plaster casting of a Whopper with "found object" from a separate and un-related restaurant. This is one piece of a project I will be finishing this month for my upcoming solo show called "Doing Okay".

I intend to display this casting on a pedestal with a large painting of an idealized "as seen on tv" Whopper. In comparison, this artifact from an actual visit to Burger King is much smaller, sadder, and lacking (perhaps this is what the white color implies).

Though it is facetious, I think there is a deeper message here, resonating an almost dysmorphia between images in the media and in real life.

"Soft Drink" (circa 2015)

This is an older piece made during my undergraduate career. Like my present day work, this piece analyzes the effects of consumer behavior. This work is perhaps a little more cynical, making a connection between drinking the contents of this can and diminished brain function.

"Déjà Vu" (2020)

This simple collage speaks to the effects of subliminal messaging on consumer behavior. In the background we see two identical sun scenes taken from the same vintage advertisement. In a similar way, I've repeated images of clouds in a blue sky. In the foreground we see an arm bearing a new pet fish about to be placed in a new bowl, while an older and identical bowl is tucked away in the cabinet.

"Pleasure Center" (2020)

"Pleasure Center" is a node to the field of human psychology and consumer behavior. In the center a hand is pushing a button in a pile of cash. Extending out from there is a maze of many physical delights which this money can buy. Nowhere is there much hint at any activity of meaning. Only trails ridden with consumptive habits. The structure of he maze is infinite, alluding to a cyclical or addictive behavior regarding this habit.

"Subterranean Subtext : A Subservient Civilization Rooted in Excess"

"Subterranean Subtext..." examines the motivations behind the daily grind. In this piece, people and ants cohabitate as they hustle amidst train tacks and freeways to their next destination. Images of candy and alcohol standby, waiting to remedy these works once they collapse after a days work. This speaks to the scenario in which people work harder and longer to have nice things, only to find themselves working so much they may hardly enjoy them.

Insight: "Coping Mechanism" (2020)

This is a very recent piece from a growing series I am calling "Coping Mechanisms" which depicts people engaging in various forms of therapy and self-care. I assert that many consumerist tendencies are formed from a need to cope with society's demands, ie. unhealthy workloads, bureaucratic hoops , and trauma.

Materials: Acrylic paint on stretched canvas

"Coping Mechanisms" (2020)

This is the second of a new, growing series that explores coping mechanisms alongside portraiture. As much of my work considers identity, I find myself drawn to comforts and vices that help normal people get through their day.

Here is an image of my mom grabbing a sloppy burrito and a styrofoam cup of Folger's on her weekend before running errands. I think critically about work culture and it how inhumane the demands can be.

Insight: "Hungry HouseWife" (2016)

This is an oil-painting I made right after graduating from college. In my early practice, I used magazine collage to create imagery to inform my paintings.

I've always favored vintage magazine collage because : 1) I find them more beautiful and also, 2) The space made by time makes it easier to criticize and laugh about the consumerist absurdities within.

Insight: "Dysfunctional Dollhouse"

This multimedia piece is one out of a series of three, all bearing the same title. "Dysfunctional Dollhouse" plays with ideas including consumerism, excess, and home-making. I organized the composition to feel frazzled and maze-like. The viewer's eye is hopefully sent like a ping pong ball bouncing from one luxury/comfort to the next.

My work often considers consumerism and its place in the development of the self.

It has much in common with a stream-of-consciousness poem I wrote, called "Chips":

Abundance lacking profundity

Gathers masses

Built from single use plastics

Novelties in great quantities

Made new by machines

Made old by hands

Anthropocene

The Spleen

of Paris

World fair

Happy meal prize

Stomping through

Trash like dry leaves

Culture made crispy

&irresistibly unsatisfying

Insight: "I voted" (2020)

This acrylic painting was rendered during the nail-biting, hand-wringing, period in which Americans agonizingly awaited to hear the victor of the 2020 American Presidential Election.

This piece, like much of my work studies and documents themes including current events, narcissism, and dependency on electronics. It refers to a selfie I took of myself using a filter, which amusingly interacts slightly with 3-d glasses. I hope to make a series of these.

Insight: "Send Nudes" (2020)

This piece is one out of a series of 43 pieces that I made early during early quarantine. I explored rendering many different body types taking nude selfies of themselves. '

Through my work, I often consider narcissism and dependency on technology. What I especially loved about making these pieces during quarantine was considering the intimacy and isolation involved in each of my character's stories.

*Materials: acrylic paint, watercolor paper, archival glue, iridescent paper*

Insight: "Mid-Sentence" (2020)

Though I do criticize some tendencies of humankind, I do also take the time to document its beauty in pieces like this. I like to record people in my community.

This is a highly social, verbose, and colorful person in my community. This piece is one out of a series of six in which I rendered her in conversation. I really love how much her hand movements tell us so much about what she is saying and feeling.

Insight: "Social Climbers" (2020)

The pyramidal shape in this piece is composed of 100 bodies placed on top of a gradient in teal. The markers on the side are meant to tally some arbitrary scale, but with Paris Hilton and Donald Trump in the top region, it's asserted that this scale is weighing social importance and wealth.

This piece like some of my others, aims to document the daily conditions of being human. Here I am questioning how hierarchal systems dehumanize many of us, especially those of us down below.

The lower regions include some images of negative stereotypes broadly associated with people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, including violence, alcohol use, and homelessness. Meanwhile, those higher up on the scale remain composed, unbothered, and caught up in their own game of climbing higher.

Insight: "Ripe When Ready / Ready When Ripe" (2020)

Much of my work possesses a dualism (light + dark, thoughtful + capricious) and this piece is no exception. I sat down to make a silly painting of bananas that involved a lesson in color theory for my K-5 students, namely complementary colors in this example. What developed is this acrylic painting of a bunch of bananas that show two different points of a banana's shelf life. In both periods these bananas are not what most people would consider "ready" to eat as one side is overly ripe and one is under ripe.

This piece serves as a palpable parallel to the degradation and loss of value of all organic organisms.

Insight: ",therefore I am"

I think a lot about how consumerist behavior is used to create a sense of self. My boyfriend, a bon vivant / bro type, was the subject of this piece. As a great connoisseur of junk food and cheap beer, I wanted to create a portrait that iterated "you are what you eat". As you can see, I have a Cheeto entering the figure's mouth, which then becomes part of himself.

Insight : "Illusory #2" (2020)

Orange number two pencils with pink erasers have a way of brining back memories of standardized testing to my 1990's kid brain.

As an adult, having worked with children through a range of ages and socio-economic standing, I've witnessed how disparities in quality of home life do effect a person's academic achievement.

I remember my grade school teachers going on about how they disliked standardized testing, a suspicion I now share. It seems pretty sterile and linear to categorize something as organic, transitory, and sensitive as the child's mind in this way. Those of us who are poor test-takers are at risk of internalizing consistently low scores as a mark of low intelligence, which is harmful.

Additionally, I question often in myself and in my work, the meaning of achievement. Is achievement really indicative of merit, or is it artificial.

Inquiry

How much of American culture is the result of a marketing schemes?

Rinse and Repeat

Simmer your soup moods

Eat

Spoonfuls of yourself

Steep

In the leaves of your past

Shit

The things that no longer serve

Stir

The tepid sink full of days

Rinse

Your cheeks with hot tears

Dry

Your eyes and your dishes

Contrived Importance

Keep it sleepy, keep it sweaty

A sun that swelters

And oppresses

A hot hand on my neck

There shade like aloe vera

Urging me to continue

But at a slower pace

The bees,

Unfazed, un-scathed,

Curious as ever

Scratchy grass that reminds

My foot

That my home is indoors

A structure

I made to house objects with

Contrived importance