Expressionism

Selected works from the series Violence. 

Sacred Flesh

Chicken Wire, Burlap, Beeswax, Plastic  | 2020  | 6" x 10" x 13"

I believe that when you truly love someone, they become part of your identity. Who you are is shaped by the experiences you have together. When someone you love dies it feels like the part of you that made you feel complete gets ripped away and you don’t know who you are without them. When I lost my sister, I lost my sense of identity and this sculpture is a reflection of that. I started with a sheet of chicken wire, each shape uniform and perfect. I wrapped it into itself, squeezing the form in my fist and then pulling it until the carefully wrapped wires broke against the tension. I gave this form a face by violently and methodically scraping a razor over a roll of burlap until only a few threads held it together. I stretched this decaying cloth over my sculpture and carefully tied it down with small threads that had fallen from the cloth itself. I didn’t want my work to have a clear identity, just pure unfiltered emotion. The beeswax carefully poured over many days is symbolic of death and rebirth. This symbolism comes from Ancient Greeks who believe that bees were born from the corpses of animals and their wax was sacred

Self-Portrait

Chalk Pastel and Pigment on Handmade Canvas  |  2019  | 3' x 3.5'

I created this work by making large, gestural motions as I pressed sticks of pastel into an unprimed canvas with my hands. Every mark is saturated with deep pigments, creating an abstracted self-portrait. 
When making this painting, I drew from the anger and insecurity I felt when I got sick. So much of my memory and identity was ripped away and what was left took years to become whole. Violence speaks to those years of finding myself and coping with a neurological disease. The deep saturated yellow represents identity; the red violence; and the blue peace.

Come With Me Now

Clay Sculpture with Acrylic Wash  | 2019  |  7" x 7.5" x 7"

I created this sculpture to help me process my grief after my sister, Heather, passed. It has aspects of myself intertwined with the memory of her during her funeral. I used exaggerated features in a gestural manner, letting the clay collapse and fold naturally. The shape of the skull is distorted, with imagery of decaying eye sockets. The jaw protrudes toward the viewer, resembling the same crooked jaw of my sister. The expression is of pain and fear. The emotions she would have felt right before dying. It’s painted with washes of paint to express discolored and johndess skin, smeared with heavy make-up.