Artist Statement

I primarily work with the medium of oil paint on wooden panels. I paint portraits and still-lifes of people and objects in my daily life as a way of preserving and highlighting their importance to me. I am focused on spotlighting the sometimes mundane, but beautiful, objects and people of everyday life that can be easily taken for granted. I am interested in how we can perceive what we see differently based on time and space. 

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In previous work, I took a more traditional approach to my subjects. My portraits were not traditional in that they were based on candid photographs, but they were painted in a realistic and straightforward manner. My newer works are based on candid and posed photographs and include an abstract element. I paint one aspect of my subject in a fully rendered, realistic style, but include colorful painted lines representing other angles and poses of the subject. These other positions emphasize the subject and illustrate how there is never one way to see or experience anything. In some portraits, they also serve to elucidate the mental state(s) of the subject. 

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I am an avid consumer of pop culture, which I have started including in my more recent work. I am intrigued by who and what becomes popular and what the media’s portrayal of it says about ourselves as individuals and a society. In my portraits of public figures, I paint one aspect of the person’s public image, but also paint abstracted outlines of other aspects of their celebrity which might emphasize or give complexity to the main persona shown. 

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Another idea that my work deals with is fashion and makeup. I often change the clothing and style of a subject to make the painting more aesthetically pleasing to me or to highlight an important feature of the subject. I have also begun exploring the use of textiles and thread in my work, and am excited about the possibilities of combining oil painting with sewing.