StatementMy art is a constant reinterpretation of life experiences. I make large-scale narrative drawings and paintings using charcoal, graphite, pigment powders, and oil paint exploring the nature of clouds. By merging representational objects and figures with abstract forms, my compositions challenge the viewer's perception by hiding symbols and messages in plain sight.
Growing up homeschooled in a country town, practicing art and observing nature became my ways of escaping a stagnant environment. I would look into the sky for hours and create stories involving the forms I could recognize; these stories influenced my art. In University, I put away my surreal fascination for socially acceptable subjects with clear representation. Periodically, I found myself sky-gazing but dismissed the interest. However, years of moving through portraiture, figurative work, and landscapes eventually became uninteresting to me. I wanted more from my art than observation could provide and sought a way to encapsulate the various styles I’ve learned. Realizing that I was suppressing my creative identity, led to a shift in my work. The ever-changing nature of my cloud-like atmosphere is comparable to the human experience. Every day, multiple times per day, we are evolving - drifting away from what we are to new ideas, inspirations, and ultimately people. Similar to clouds, the formational stages of our lives vary in purpose, but we are constantly reconfiguring our identity. My color palette shifts with each painting to explore an outcome of combinations that naturally wouldn't work together. In my cloud-like atmospheres, the cacophony of colorful matter-like forms holds the viewer’s eyes and forces them to wander around curiously. Similar to the recapitulation of a dream, only small bits of information breakthrough, leaving us constantly fumbling with memories and imagination. At its core, my artwork represents that there is always more to what we see. |