STATEMENT OF WORK

I look to my surroundings and make marks to orient myself.  Descended from refugees on all sides of my ancestry, I am obsessed with the idea of escapes.  Imaginary journeys through paint and virtual worlds offer a way to travel when grounded due to family life, and an alternative to the often harsh reality of the state of the world. 

Through drawing, smartphone photography and videography, I take notes and bring the outside inside my studio walls. Photographs of my paintings carry my work into a virtual space, and allow for dramatic expansion of scale. I digitally paint in three dimensions to broaden the scope of the intial paintings. I record video while walking through the virtual paintings.
I pour, brush, wipe, spray, draw on surfaces while watching the video.

Movement within videos brings new life to the painted surface.  Sketches created during lived experience of physical environments in the world are collaged directly onto panels, and marks are made in response.

Akin to Jane Bennett’s theory of “vital materiality”, the paintings and virtual environments are as alive as real world spaces. Presenting both physical and virtual interpretations of similar images, I am encouraging the experience of painting as an ongoing event. 

I want to offer people a way to be so immersed in a world that they can wander and imagine, but can also feel encouraged to explore and meander without a directive to solve or comprehend.