statement

When it comes to art-making, both my process and subject matter are inspired by what I am deeply afraid of. I despise the dark, but am a nocturnal worker. Solitude unsettles me, but I deliberately work in lonely environments. Much of the imagery in my work has a nautical feel, yet I have an irrational fear of water, with all of its mystery, its alien creatures, the threat of drowning to death. The canvas is the space in which I feel most free to confront, explore, even play with these taboo fascinations.

I am inspired by artists who work with similarly dark, grotesque, and controversial subject matter and who use their work to create surreal alternative worlds. Though, I primarily work in pen and ink, I enjoy experimenting with colors and mixing medias (taking the aforementioned mediums and applying three-dimensional elements like sea shells, Styrofoam, fiberglass, working with wood, automobile airbrushing techniques, etc). Also, I have horrorvacui tendencies. It is hard for me to leave large white gaps in my work and see it as finished. I am generally not satisfied until the work is covered in imagery or texture.

Outside of fear, this fascination I have with covering the canvas to create alternative worlds has much to do with my recent travels. Over the past 3 years I have managed to travel to 34 countries on 5 continents. What I experienced during my travels-- unfamiliar cultures, geography, architecture, histories, climates -- has heavily influenced my imagery. It has also inspired me to work on much larger scales. Colossal scales allow me to incorporate a wide variety of images, expand and diversify the narrative I'm creating on the canvas. The experience of working at a large scale has given me ideas for future direction. Eventually, I would like to try and move my work to public spaces--the walls/floors/ceilings of building interiors, subway stations, etc--to make the surreal, alternative worlds I create feel more literally inhabitable.

The only negative effect that traveling had on my work was pace. The pace at which I was traveling--always rushing, on the go, living experimentally, eager to try new things--directly influenced the way I was working. Granted, my production rate was high and I was willing to experiment with my work. However, the quality of the work felt rushed. My mark-making rapid and rough. In the near future I plan to slow down, work towards getting my mark-making to become more careful and elegant. By doing this, I hope to refine the details of my fear imagery, and ultimately to create the effect of a blurred line between reality and the surreal worlds I create and imagine inhabiting.

bio

born:1986, Boston, MA

education:

University of Massachusetts Amherst, BFA, 2010

selected awards/honors

1st Place External Jury, UMass Junior/Senior Show, 2010
Dina Brodsky Scholarship of the Figurative Arts, UMass, 2010
1st Place Jury, UMass Junior/Senior Show, 2010
Dina Brodsky Scholarship of the Figurative Arts, UMass, 2009

selected solo or two-person exhibits

HorrorVacui, Herter Gallery, Amherst, MA, 2010

selected group shows

Art on the Macabre Side, Valerie's Gallery, Providence, RI, 2010
Boo! Exhibit, Bristol Art Gallery, Bristol, RI, 2010
What Are You Afraid Of? Gallery X, New Bedford, MA, 2010
Junior/Senior Show, Herter Gallery, Amherst, MA, 2010