statement

The artistic process is not just an exploration of creativity and technique; it is also an avenue towards self-awareness and personal understanding. This body of work is the culmination of years of failure, success, pain, joy and growth with that process.

I have found it to be a very difficult, if not impossible, task to fully commit to an ideology and accept it as an ultimate truth. Whether it is a theology or a philosophy, at any given moment what has been solidified as truth and reason can be contradicted and reneged. Because of my subjectivity I failed to find what I could believe in faithfully. However, it is that subjectivity that I learned to embrace and accept as the answer. The world is an individual experience. Drawing influence from writers such as J.P. Sartre, Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard, my work embraces the subjective individual and the struggles associated with it.

Finding balance through acceptance and identification is another component of my work.  Psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that there is a shadow inherent within us all. This shadow is necessary because it creates a balance and equilibrium within our psyche and our world. I use abstraction of the portrait to help embrace my shadow. I try to represent the emotion, tension and sprit that are tied to the individual beyond the representation of their facial features. Showing darker images is not about seeing the world in a negative light. The work is not about glorifying darkness or the shadow as an ideal, nor is it a commentary on labeling others. What I put into the images and receive from them is the acknowledgement of the shadow. I know my potential for evil, just as I know everyone in this world carries that potential. By acknowledging the antithesis of good and the ideal, I can fully appreciate positive things when I experience them.

Ultimately, my work embraces the subjective nature of the individual and is a visualization of concealed emotions and attributes, such as the shadow, that reside within the psyche. The images that are formed become a step towards an intrinsic representation of the self, showing the tension and anguish associated with achieving balance and clarity in 'being'.

bio

born: 1983, Detroit, Michigan

education

Kendall College of Art and Design, MFA, 2013
Kendall College of Art and Design, BFA, 2009

selected awards/honors

Studio Excellence Award, Kendall College of Art and Design, 2009
Outstanding Student of the Arts, Del James Blessinger Foundation, 2005

selected publications

2011 Drawing Essentials: A Guide To Drawing From Observation, 2nd Addition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press p.98,166,189,191,199,251

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Of Being - Kendall College of Art and Design, Gallery F, Grand Rapids, MI, 2013

selected group shows

MEGA (Michigan Emerging Graduate Artists )Juried Exhibition - Grand Rapids, MI, 2012
Concentration - Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI 2010
MMA 80th West Michigan Regional -  Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI, 2008