Statement
My print series have been inspired by my explorations into psychological disorders and how they affect people’s perceptions of reality. Anxiety disorders can cause people to perceive things differently - usually to their detriment. Innocuous objects or situations can seem dangerous. The subjectivity of reality is at the heart of this quandary. Being around people that suffer from anxiety disorders is often stressful and confusing. It often causes the unafflicted person to question his/her own reality. My work provides a constructive outlet in which I can explore these feelings and
unresolved memories.
My creative practice begins with observing the environment around me, then researching and documenting the curiosities such as, mold colonizing a pumpkin and flocks of starling birds. These discoveries often provide me with fodder to create new visual metaphors related to perception, illusion, and the psychological.
I enjoy taking risks and experimenting with materials, techniques, new technologies, and their inherent visual meaning. People often believe that photographic imagery captures truth, while drawing and media altered by hand portrays illusion. I question those assumptions, and metaphorically reality itself, by combining photographs, printed images, collage, and hand-drawn or painted elements. The use of this varied media creates a visual separateness to the images reinforcing the awkwardness and confusion of varying perceptions.
Visually portraying the passage of time through sequential print series, books, and video is often an important component of my work. The transition from “normal” to “abnormal” awareness is perplexing, because the line between the two is almost indistinguishable. Working with sequences allows me some control over how the viewer sees this change.
While being driven by the conceptual, my art is also largely influenced by formal qualities such as color, movement, and composition. Although the subject of psychological disorders is bleek, I make my work formally beautiful to allow people to more easily become engaged in this complex topic.