Statements

2/07

Painting creates a language through which I communicate and study the world and my place in it. Historically my work has been about stories that I have imagined, gathered, or remembered.  I explore history, folk tales, religion, and culture and am intrigued by social constructs and tales that reinforce them, in particular, as related to the female body, the bible, Christian Images (especially Catholic), along with the rituals and techniques that enhance these memes. The world is a beautiful, dangerous, nurturing, and cruel place which fuels my work and drives me to explore the many dichotomies rather than try to understand or balance them. In the preliminary drawings as I prepare for a piece I rarely drive or steer the work to any particular outcome; instead I intend to translate pictures in my head inspired by what I’ve learned, imagined, or remembered through “stream of consciousness” technique.

I find it interesting that frequently we are tempted to conclude that something ‘uncanny’ is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar. I am very interested in the idea of ‘unheimlich,’ which is the uncanny, the idea of the familiar with the unfamiliar; the familiar female body with the unfamiliar face. Often I use animals as an evasive tactic in which, as in fables or bestiaries, there is an application of human characteristics. When a human figure is present with animal characteristics, there will be a relative element that often raises questions. How to compare the two species? Is the emotion human, or non-human? Are my truths fact or fiction? Is either appropriate?

On another level much of my work focuses on the relationships between women with the broader content of the interdependent nature of all people.  I find that we humans are not independent entities creating ourselves.  Instead, others integrally affect us.  Even when solitary, our habits of thought and action draw from storehouses of experience with others. Along that vein I plan to explore the question of how history affects painting and conversely painting affects history by creating a system that metaphorically suggests a reenactment of art’s history—in which all that is made is influenced by what existed previously. The gravity of art on culture and vice versa is an idea that I am continuing to develop.

 In reference to my influences, I realize that art is never created in a vacuum, art is always inspired. Indeed, great art draws inspiration from society and life around. Influences emanate from life, current art and theory, and art history. A few of the artists who have influenced me include Egon Schiele for his emotive and coherent figurative language that is both realistic and dreamy.  I did a series of photographs inspired by his gestures alone, as well as several paintings that employ a similar tone on tone over color playfulness. I admire Judy Chicago for her pivotal and brave work, The Dinner Party. It was with great pleasure that I was able to work with her last spring on the Evoke/Invoke/Provoke project. It provided a true growth spurt for me artistically. Diego Velasquez has been a frequent source of inspiration for me. I admire his psychologically penetrating portraits as well as his interesting compositional patterns. His works are intelligent and the paint is beautifully handled. Another artist that has had a great influence on me is Jenny Saville. I am strangely drawn to her monstrously gorgeous big women as well as her strong technique.

4/06

Friend Fatale      

“Whether it happens in a blowout battle or years of sniping comments, the ends of our girl friendships make us feel more alone, guilty, and bereft than the ends of our greatest romances.” -Rebecca Traister-

 She was a person I was bound to in no way, not by blood or by law, and I cannot bear to know her any longer.  Like a dozen hammer blows to the head, the person who was in the trenches of adolescence with me, with whom I shared my secrets and confidences suddenly and without notice turned into the best friend who casually tried to destroy my life. On the basis of a misunderstanding, jealousy, and 35 years of seemingly forgiven but not forgotten disagreements our friendship simply unraveled. All the loose threads of it, years of loose threads, got pulled all at once, and we found ourselves drowning in a pile of bitterness.

This series is a public mourning. There's no wake to attend, no grave to stand at, no papers to sign. It is all I can do with the wide and silent lake of my grief. I paint with the vocabulary of female loss.

      Artiste: My solace.

Gesture: When mistrust outweighs the friendship.

Dirty Dishes: When toxic friends prey on the weaknesses that the intimacies of friendship reveal.

Sweet Nothings: Words that are barely concealed stings.

Misunderstood: Statements distorted and taken out of context leaving the author with feelings of frustration and shame. 

 11/05

I am fascinated by the conflict between inner and outer existence; the need to stay composed and serene while the interior is chaotic.  Painting is a good vessel for this tension.  It appears to be my quest to convey the internal struggle that our physicality wears as the mask that symbolizes what most of us wear internally.

My ongoing interest in figures stems from my intention to address issues of the human condition; such as our relationships with each other, our sexuality, the physical body, fertility, and our mortality.  My work portrays conversation, dreams, and moments in time.  Emphasis and dialogue are created with color, line, and support.  The support may be canvas and paint, silicone, black and white photography that has been painted or transferred, fabric, and digital creations.

I paint what I think about and then I think about what I paint.

9/05

I am drawn toward certain images and icons with a strong instinct.  I try not to question that. It is important to recognize that historically women have been largely ignored in the world of art and it is only now getting better.  I have introduced my pigs into works done by men who have long been considered Master’s-read into it what you want. 

Some may consider my pigs to be a slap at the masters but they are not-they are a response to a society that denigrates women and opposes their freedom to create beyond that of childbearing and meal preparations. It is a rebuttal to a society that insults the woman when she has finally completed her accepted “duties” and then tries to enter the world of art and is met with negativity even from her peers.

I would like to think it is a visual record of the mind, the body, and spirit. Maybe it's out of sheer frustration that I work, or perhaps there is a need to violate or to contradict. There is a strong feeling though…a strong sense of chaos, beauty, and order. For whatever reason, I feel compelled to act on this impulse. It feels like a continuation, a link to the past... the timeless quest to record our presence, to leave my mark, and to report our struggles.  

There is this moralizing of some religious parable that controls our society that I want to react to, and reflect upon. My work attempts to fuse the past with the present in pursuit of an existential statement. It continues in the figurative tradition... truth revealed through abstraction, honesty revealed through distortion and exaggeration.  

A being named Legions is running through my mind reminding me of the continual struggle that women have encountered through the “opiate of the masses”. I want to identify our relationship with derogatory images and the structure of our society. I begin by transforming my subjects' ordinary features and gestures into