ARTIST STATEMENT

PAINTING/ DRAWING

I have a strong interest in the portrait and its surroundings. In my paintings I emphasize how important it is to introduce the figure in a challenging space. The space around the portrait is just as important as the portrait itself. I investigate the division of the painting surface and the relationships of the figure to pulsating color and pattern enviroments.

I enjoy capturing my figures and portraits at a moment in time were they seem to gaze and invite the viewer to get lost in their own world of color. The objects and patterns surrounding the figures create a surreal dream-like environment in many of my paintings. The objects and patterns become significant symbols that reflect the identities of the individuals represented.

COLLAGE

Either figurative or abstract, the collages adhere to the same rules of divisions and layering as the paintings. When combining collage with other mediums to create a figurative collage, I make sure that all mediums on the piece emerge simultaneously to create a single balanced piece.I enjoy the immediacy I get from the collages and they have helped me a lot in the division of large and small ratios in my paintings.

The collages are extremely personal. I can recall where I have found every piece of paper on the collage. I hide information in the collages. I prefer to use worn papers, which have been stepped on or damaged in any other way, it shows that they already had a history by the time I found them. The collages become locked diaries, in which they leave the viewer to appreciate the formal issues and wonder about the secrets inside.


LETTER COLLAGES

Each letter is aimed at a very specific being. They vary from people,such as Letter to an Artist and Letter to Mama y Papa, to more abstract entities such as Letter to Barbara’s Womb or Letter to the Night. Just like any letter, I think about what I want to say and who I am saying it to. I translate my feelings about the person, being or thing and the emotions that they express into a combination of shape and color. A letter to my lover will convey a very different type of excitement than a letter to Mum and Dad!

Literal words are turned into shapes of color, and specific palettes and structures arrive in each letter. It is exciting to see the finished letter, not only as a form of communicating to the specific person or thing, but it is interesting how the letter also becomes a portrait of the person or thing itself.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Much of my photography deals with issues of identity. I enjoy placing portraits and figures among surreal elements. I am aware of the space around the figures and often make the space relate directly to what is going on with the figures. I also enjoy abstractions in nature and the idea of tricking the eye.


ANIMAL PROJECT

In my most recent project, The Animal Project, I place figures and animals sharing the same world. I think of the qualities of a specific animal and then shoot a figure who carries out a pose or action that relates to the animal. I paint the animal directly on the photograph by hand. I then re-shoot the photograph so there is no evidence of paint on the photograph. This gives the impression that the animal was there with the figure at the time of shooting. The photographs provide fun, unusual images that illustrate comical stories between figures and animals. They offer a new sense of reality that would not be achievable out in the real world.


BREAST PROJECT

In The Breast Project, I selected different shaped pieces of glass and painted breasts on them. The models would hold the pieces of glass against them, so the breasts would line up with their own. I see these photographs as humorous, yet with serious overtones. These images are a response to the expectations put on women in the media today. I am fascinated by makeover reality TV shows like I Want a Famous Face and The Swan. In The Swan, the surgeon can be seen as an artist who shapes and moulds womens bodies into what is the ideal body type today. The surgeon becomes a sculptor and make-up artists become painters. In the making of these images, I relate to both of these, in that I am modifying body types.

In the photographs I paint and change my models to keep up with the ideals. I give them large breasts, large lips, long eyelashes, thin eyebrows; I cover them with make-up. However, the expected beauty does not surface. Instead, I am left with grotesque women who have lost their individuality and identity. Many women in the world seek these changes in their body and also end up looking unnatural and grotesque. These photographs question the ideal beauty proposed by popular culture and mock the expectations cultivated by the media.