My art is heavily inspired by the neglected child. Many children across the world live in the reality of which basic needs of love and safety are not met. When I was a child, I experienced my own realities that often left me feeling hopeless. I sought comfort during play to reconcile the displacement that comes with neglect. I often read books in sheet tents on my top bunk and wandered through the woods picking flowers, building forts, and pretending to be characters within the children’s books I adored.
I realize that these places I often sought as a child were what rejuvenated my hope at a young age. As an adult, I now strive to reconcile learned realities of hopelessness through my art making. In turn, I also invite the viewer to question and liberate themselves from their own learned realities.
I primarily focus on the use of space, texture and color. Space is an important component to the works as it gives a reference point for the viewers relationship to what they have stumbled upon. I directly invite the viewer in with the use of strong diagonal lead-ins, quite similarily to paths, branches and vines.
Referencing nature and organisms, I form monsterous/imaginative spaces for the viewer to meander through. Texture and color are also an important part of how I build surface and spatial relationships. The tactile experience is linked to the child-like investigation of something, which is something I consider necessary to this liberation I am attempting to stir within the viewer.
