I
use my works on paper to describe my life, expressing my thoughts and emotions
about a specific moment or circumstance through my relationships with those
I am close to. I build up thin layers of paint, ink and pencil to conceal and
reveal images the way emotions and behavior are unconsciously layered to hide
or signal something to others. The gesture and composition of the figures in
my work are very important, as they are the first indicators of the work's meaning.
I use recurring objects from piece to piece as symbols or metaphors for people
and ideas. For example, I often use a typewriter to represent myself, or birds
as metaphors for fear and emotion. I use paper as my surface because of its
flexibility, smoothness, and capacity for erasure. Like a palimpsest, it shows
the progression and history of layers of marks. Like skin it wrinkles and fights
back when worked on, asserting its personality into the painting or drawing.
Like journal pages, my work is an ongoing narrative, each piece chronologically
linked to the others. Each gesture, color, layer, and object is significant,
and each work interacts with the others to establish meaning through a repetition
of these elements.
