Artist Statement

    I view myself as a conceptual artist. I do not have a preferred medium, and instead match the medium to the concept or vice versa. Each medium has its own history and therefore its own implications, its own strengths, its own weaknesses, its own language. I do not limit myself to things that are traditionally thought of as a medium. I try to look at everything and ask myself, What does it say? What can it say? Or can I use this to say what I want to say? I am influenced by artist who challenge the way we think about art like Sol LeWitt, the Cramps, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Barbra Kruger, Jenny Saville, and Kara Walker. 

    Our experiences are unique, but everything we feel someone else has also felt. Everything we go through someone can relate to. Nothing is unfathomable by someone. It is easier for us to understand each other when our perceptions are challenged. My goal is to challenge perceptions. I want to live in the space between what we see what we think we see. My hope is that when I decontextualize, or recontextualize I see something new. Each piece is a different question and a new challenge to my perception. I want to share my experiences and struggles so that I can relate to others, and others relate to me. I try to say what words can’t in the hopes that someone else will see my work and go, “I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I know exactly how that feels.” 

    I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and have a son who has been diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. The label of “disorder” is something that has offended me. In response, I am currently creating a series on the subject of neurodiversity.  I’m examining, deconstructing, and challenging the ideas of mental illness and mental disabilities. Sometimes our struggles are those of the world around us, and sometimes there are parallels of the struggles. In my art I often discover these parallels, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.