statement
The Visual Discourse series freezes a social or political dilemma in time so that the paradox or point of view it presents can be confronted, examined and discussed.
The topics I choose range from reproductive control, institutional pedophilia, second amendment rights, to financial crisis, and beyond. They are intended to feel urgent—to address the need for people to engage in dialogue around topics that can be uncomfortable.
Diminished dialogue is an outcome of a polarized social-political disruption. I respond to this paradigm by creating artwork that provides a visual platform for thoughtful engagement of controversial concepts.
The hardness of the topics, oppositions of opinions, are softened and made approachable by seeing them in an art form. Disarming, yet approachable. I develop work in the Assemblage genre; juxtaposing ordinary objects to represent a particular social or political dilemma.
I apply thin layers of pigmented mud to define the shape of the underlying American flag, then apply encaustic wax, combined, they deliver a ghostly, irregular opacity to the work causing the visual message to soften, as the communicative message is often sharp. I utilize multiple layers of wax or pours to expressively mold the disparate parts into a 3-dimensional, yet flat object.
I did not choose social political issues as an art form, they choose me and I have come to embrace the level of voice it provides. My first voice comes with the development of each individual piece by forcing me to work through the dilemma for myself. My second voice comes when a dialogue is spawned with a viewer, with or without me. Twice I have experienced Newtown 26 bring people to tears, silence a room with introspection, and then inspire conversation among strangers. the content of my work resonates with the general public: people who can "see" that things they care about are important enough to become art.
I am a by-product of a Post-Democratic America…it is this struggle that has built and continues to build, my art pedigree.