Difference & Identity This series originated as a project assigned by Mira Cantor
at Northeastern University. During her course on figure drawing we were
engaged with the idea of masculinity and femininity. I have reworked
and expanded my original concept after being influenced by my thesis
work with Alan Bass at the New School for Social Research. These pieces explore identity with reference to psychoanalytic notions of sexual difference, memory traces, and the dynamic unconscious. They also involve Heideggerian notions of uncanniness, guilt, and anxiety. These topics are dealt with through an exploration of materials and imagery. Wood glue provides waxy flesh-like filler on collaged figures and body parts, its color and texture creating an odd imitation of the warmth and volume of flesh.Glue's typical "holding" function refers to my thesis work, wherein I draw parallel between Donald Winnicott's psychoanalytic concept of "Holding Space" and Martin Heidegger's phenomenological concept of "Being-in-the-world". Put simply, it refers to one's developed ability and constant need to "hold one's self together", to (largely unconsciously) maintain one’s sense of self and reality.
Step Lightly This portfolio compiles several pieces made over the span of three years (2010-2012) and three cities (Boston, Ballyvaughan, New York). The pieces demonstrate an approach I experimented with consistently: abstract, expressionistic, and textured paint application is layered with carefully placed lines, details, and colors. This series aims to express the tension between the real and the imagined, the intentional and the unconscious, the remembered and the constructed.
Night Series The Night Series portfolio was created during a residency at the Burren College of Art, in Ballyvaughan, Ireland, 2010. I was drawn to the dramatic silhouettes and limited palettes that emerged at night, when shadows were cast by sepia toned street lights. Using several different techniques I aimed to capture the simplified forms, subtle tonal transitions, and glimmering splashes of light. The village church especially captured my attention.
Day/ Night These sister paintings were also completed during my residency at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland, 2010. They both contain a base layer of wall paint, dripped and splattered in a Pollockian style. Then several layers of paint were added, with various transparencies, sometimes rendering basic forms, sometimes building tone with a dry brush technique.
Point and Form This series of drawings was an exploration of systematicity and spontaneity. I set up three steps to follow in making them: (1) Make a random number of dots, in random locations. (2) Make shapes to enclose the dots. Each shape can enclose any number of dots, and any number of shapes can be used. (3) All dots must be enclosed.The points represented a pure spontaneity, while the forms were then reliant on these random dots as guidelines. Then deciding what shapes to make, and which which points they would embrace or avoid, was again a mater of impulse. The results are these curious, minimalistic, and often vaguely anthropomorphic drawings.