Artist Statement

I realized recently that I had never posted my general artist statement that was the focus of my graduate school portfolio pieces. My more recent work that I previously posted focuses on different ideas, but this is still the main basis of my work. Most of these pieces are posted a couple of blog postings back.

Growing up in the suburban landscape of Midwest America fueled me to explore the world beyond the monotonous exterior of my community. I pushed myself to obtain a more thorough perspective of the society that surrounded me. I was united with it, but simultaneously I challenged myself to be an observer. My observations led me to discover my agitation for a general disorder in the apparent obsessive pursuit of physical perfection. Not physical perfection in itself, rather, how this shallow desire conflicted with the gender roles of society, thus further pushing them into a state of disorder.

When I began painting, I strived to portray the physical ideals that I perceived to be the most imperative to each individual that I rendered. Through this perception of physical impeccability, I naturally began to structure a general sense of disorder through a bleak color palette and intense expression. This body of work focused on illustrating the way I perceived the pursuit of perfection in individuals, while characterizing the disorder I saw underneath the vaguely falsified exterior. As my work evolved it was not the actual obsessive pursuit of perfection that perturbed me, rather the socially acceptable desire for men to strive to conquer perfection in women. I constantly observed the way a man’s eyes would chase a women endlessly throughout a room, until another subsequent entity entered. If he was successful in his endeavors, I would observe the carefully crafted tag of ownership he would place around her.

In my recent work, I set out to create a seemingly perfect feminine entity in an ambiguous, ethereal atmosphere where she is being ‘hunted’, illustrating what I had constantly observed in everyday social situations.

I create pieces that capture different moments in the courtship process that radiate the consuming qualities that I have discerned through my observations and become accustomed to through my personal experience. These observations reflect a shallow desire and pursuit that can be found in the disorder of gender roles in society. I anticipate that my work will continue to reflect the truisms drawn from the social behaviors witnessed.

Recent Works

I spent a lot of time putting together two shows during my final semester of undergrad, as well as frantically applying to graduate school. Everything turned out better than I initially anticipated, and I was accepted into my first choice graduate school, Kendall College in Grand Rapids. My senior show encompassed the work I used to apply for graduate school, and the basis of my current artist statement. This work is featured in previous blogs, along with these two additional pieces.

Reclaim I. oil. 2010Reclaim II. oil. 2010

These two pieces are more a commentary about the innate ability of humans to be reclaimed by their natural compulsions. I had been spending a lot of time contemplating exactly why certain traits are so carved into some individuals and not others. Mostly focusing on why certain actions, or traits are so impossible for different individuals to be capable of over coming, or erasing from their general demeanor. The basis of these two pieces was to start formulation a way to show a interpretation of this process. I do not feel these pieces were entirely to successful conceptually, as I need to evolve this thought process further and create a more elaborate composition. I was satisfied with my rendering of the skin in both pieces, the second one especially.