ARTIST STATEMENT

 

Tactility and sensuality have always been central to my art-making. I want people to be irresistibly drawn to touch my work as though they are running their hands down someone’s back. This tactile impulse connects to a number of recurring themes that interest me – seduction, beauty, attraction, repulsion, desire, wonder, growth, and abundance.

As much as I aspire to beauty and pleasure, nothing can heighten beauty like a dash of the grotesque. Hence, my work often includes curious details that create a hint of uneasiness. I explore this push/pull dynamic between attraction and repulsion in a variety of ways in my work. “Come hither….go away”.

 

I often turn to imagery in nature for inspiration - flowers and plants intrigue me with their seductive textures, elegant lines and fertile energy; fruits and vegetables with their tantalizing colors, dense seed structure, and grotesque beauty. Fascinating patterns repeat themselves in nature over and over again at macro and micro levels. The resources are endless. My hikes often end in an array of collected goodies. I marvel at them, dissect them, watch them age and change.

 

Even the simplest object in nature is not what it seems – closer examination always reveals more exquisite detail. I strive to capture this sense of exquisiteness in my work and studio practice. My process is one of total commitment bordering on obsession – I do whatever it takes to render details, form and surface with depth and believability. Exquisiteness in its richest definition is beautiful and moving to me. I hope that my attentiveness imparts the work with a sense of tenderness, intimacy, and wonder.