Artist Statement

Had you asked me to write an artist’s statement a few years ago, I likely would have done much better. I would have happily sat down and wrote about how fascinated I was with nature, atmosphere, and light and shadow. Perhaps I would have extrapolated on that to include my “deep fascination” with meditative realities and multisensory experiences.

However.

I am finding it very difficult these days to write about my seemingly abstract fascinations when the world is being destroyed by fascist billionaires.

What a privilege it is to write poetry while Iran burns and ICE murders people in the streets.

Here is what I will say about my work.

We live in a world today where technofascists are working so desperately to separate us from reality. They have addicted us to their little screens and dopamine spikes so we grow disconnected from each other, our bodies and the earth. They want us distracted, overwhelmed, and most importantly, perpetually absent from our own lives. Because absence breeds apathy, and if we are apathetic, we won’t fight to defend each other, or to defend the natural world that we are stewards of.

I strongly believe that we, as living beings, are born to be present in our bodies. We are meant to be alive and grounded. We are meant to breathe fresh air and sit in the sun.

Every day, I find myself disassociating from my own life. So every day, I make work that reminds me to feel alive. 

Work that is atmospheric and energetic. 

Work that emphasizes the senses. 

Work that encourages people to engage in the energy and textures of the world.

Sometimes, that work takes the form of landscape paintings and sculptures. Natural forms and natural landscapes are the object of these works, but the subject is energy and presence. In Canopy, my most recent painting, I tried to capture the sense of looking up and watching a tree canopy shifting and moving with the breeze. 

More recently, however, I have been working in video, installation, and scenic design. In these works, the emphasis is on sensory experience and synesthesia. As someone with Chromesthesia, which is a sensory phenomenon where someone sees colors and textures in their head when they hear sounds, I’ve always lived my life immersed in a constantly shifting painting, colors overlaying the world around me. In works like Synesthesia and Campfire, I try to capture that sensory painting of audio soundscapes in video and animation. Projected onto a curved screen, with directional audio, Campfire especially was intended to immerse the viewer in their own senses.

Finally, in my scenic designs, I try to combine the painterly and textural elements of my work with a story to create visually rich and meaningful spaces. In my design for Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, I built the set model out of thread, which I sewed back and forth through the model box to create a web to ensnare Eurydice. Inspired by architectural drawings and dissolving lines, I wanted to create a space that felt 3 dimensional and flat at the same time, suggesting the foreign reality of the underworld. The lighting I chose would cast criss-crossing shadows as it hit the threads, creating geometric textures, bringing the sort of shifting energy I seek in all of my works. 

Ultimately, through my work I am attempting to bring people back into their bodies, and often, into elevated sensory realities. You can decide whether that’s a worthy goal or not.

But whether or not it speaks to you, please take a moment after you finish reading this.

Take your headphones out.

Go outside. 

And sit in the grass.