Artist Statement
I work primarily with oil paint, spray paint, wood and found objects creating what I call Abstract Sculptural Assemblages. Within every Assemblage, I try to reinvent my use of mediums and practice. I work with what surrounds me: nature and found objects - these can be simple things like broken glass, seasonal flowers, tools like nails and fishing lines that are usually used to hold objects together; in my artworks, they keep things together metaphorically. I draw inspiration from everyday life to engage in abstract thinking as I attempt to realise the new artwork. The concept of every day is crucial to my practice: things, family, and moods represent the cosmology of my life.
Art is a profoundly dreamy, unconscious, inspired, and coincidental process where things arise that did not spring out of my pure acting intellect but rather a combination of all those elements. Frequently I find myself recomposing fragments; I like to use combinational methods where you take something and systematically combine it with something else. Each artwork begins differently: sometimes with writing, stories, or fantasy; the basis, however, isn't relevant as it's about how each media can function independently and interact. For instance, I would start with an idea as literature, continue it as a drawing, and finally introduce painterly elements.
I believe that Art should be self-explanatory; I wouldn't only want to speak to an intellectual, professional audience. I would say I am fabricating states of being that an audience absorbs or states in which work exists and in which it develops. I intend my work to be a reflection, filter, or resonant body for what is happening within the space of the artwork — the kind of atmosphere or narrative – a ghost of a place. I aim to render visible what is already there; the Assemblages I build are to be experienced individually – you can enter those landscapes, feelings, and moods.
Long-term projects are becoming more important to me. How can I observe a decaying plant throughout the year? How is the surface of the primed wood changing? How can I work in the long run? The present and every day contain elements of paradise, which is what my research revolves around.