RAW:Chicago 2013 Interview

Visual Statements

Formalities, Oil on canvas

The advantages and disadvantages of being a woman are made a subject of controversy every day. Women are dynamic. I know that every woman has it in her to be independent, strong, and respectable. Sexist talk is what it is, merely talk. There is no way to stop every hurtful word and ill-formed opinion. A form of degradation is sexual objectification, but that role can lend itself to the revelation of serious and stunning truths about what it is to be female, and with it the light sting of humor that accompanies lingering stereotypes.

Addiction Machine

Addiction Machine, Oil on canvas

The digital age is changing society in ways yet to be seen. Is it good or bad change? Maybe it’s both. Regardless, I miss the days where it would be special to send a picture message of a finished work to my friends and family. It was intimate. Now it goes out to a vat of virtual opinions. The bigger the audience, the harder it is to be honest. I want art to speak the truth because truth is the only thing we have, and art has the potential to do this. I don’t edit a work based on the amount of people who are going to see it. It simply is what it is. It takes courage to tell the truth rather than to say what people want to hear. I believe that art is called to react to this distorted virtual reality with a relentless and unconcealed truth.

Finicky Materials

Final Test. Latex, enamel, and gesso on wood. March 2013.

I LOVE new and foreign materials. Unfortunately, my favorites always happen to be hazardous or ephemeral. For instance, one of my tests that included latex will start to wilt and disintegrate in six months, and I’m looking for a material that could stick around in a gallery for a while.

I have been using, and will continue to use traditional painting materials in conventional ways so that I will have brought tradition into the conversation; and with that, the rest of the work functions to 'push up' against these formal qualities. Four bars, stretched canvas, gesso, oil ground, etc. I will paint an abstracted image onto the canvas to my full ability with oil, spray, and enamel paints. This sets the stage for future material experimentation, which I have done before, but this time I will go way too far. 

Ready for Overkill

One of three photomontages that will be used as a jumping-off point. March 2013.

I really enjoy the process of adding, subtracting, and shifting around that painting allows me to do. With this future work, I plan to question and challenge the edges of a canvas. What I had learned from the tests is how very crucial this subtractive element is to the paintings, and how this adds the sharp contrast of order vs. chaos. They have helped me come to one of the many solutions I must make in this endeavor. There are possibilities for the subject matter to spill off of the surface being that it is so full.

I want to propose a plan for three large works on canvas that will potentially include oil paints and enamels, collaged elements, and found objects. I plan to use tar in these works due to its sculptural qualities and references to tarring and feathering. I cannot yet say how far the materials will descend off of the canvas; ironically I plan to have no plan for that aspect. Once I’ve had “my full” of art making on the object, it will be done. This is the part that is most exciting to me; what I do not know. The important thing is that I am taking an enjoyable process and plan to fill, and “spill” this work off of the edges of the canvas until I am physically exhausted. 

Painting of photomontage. April 2013.