The gain and loss
of control and the desire to maintain control once it is in possession
is the essence
of my work. External pressures influenced by our fast-paced,
American society and the subsequently induced internal stresses,
have been translated into
a personal visual form. By filtering this dialogue between
these opposing elements through a symbolic and literal system,
I find a level of catharsis
from the anxiety-laden thoughts that influence my interpretations
of control.
The use of pills, medical and illicit alike, is becoming alarmingly
commonplace in our society. I imply pills in this body of work, namely
psychotropic, with literal narratives and metaphorical visualizations
as a means to symbolize a filtration of time, an absorption of anxiety,
and a simultaneous acceptance and rejection of this current actuality.
Loose linear paths, humorous and satirical stories, as well as molecular
and pill-like shapes evolve from the bright acrylic spills. The distinctive
and personal palette, inspired by specific medications, reflects a
type of artificial desirability that is reminiscent of American culture.
The latex pours and acrylic washes mimic the fast, plastic, synthetic
sheen that glistens above society while the graphite in the drawings
suggests erasable history and our vulnerability to impermanence.
Each painting personifies an independent response to a culturally common
stress associated with the idea of control. The graphite responses
are dictated by the spontaneous and unforeseen actions of the minimally
poured acrylic. By submitting to the haphazard growing nature of the
paint, I can inadvertently assert a level of control by employing a
more methodical process with the graphite. From there, the works are
accessed with more conscious and formally compositional decisions,
emphasizing the visual tensions between the deliberate and chance,
the mechanical and biomorphic, and the structured and disordered.