Working intuitively and under the influence of narrations that play on in my head, my paintings probe the dynamics and application of various mediums as a derivative of how I seek to recreate the story. Subsequently, my work is the outcome of process of painting is an investigative act of translation and response and feels very much like a palpable conversation aI develop the canvas by making decisions and discoveries. In my work, I create fields of multi-layered congestion, which are heavily saturated, integrated sections of the canvas filled with marks, lines, directional patterns, and bold, saturated color combinations. As I paint, I make connections between discord and harmony. I use this method and the interplay of such mediums as acrylic, spray paint, and paint pens to metaphor the paradoxical ways life unfolds. I find that exploring different approaches to painting widens the space for new dialogues to emerge, emulating real-life examples of what I am open to and what I refuse to see. Oscillating between structure and looser approaches, ultimately, I end up with groupings of paintings that express visual metaphors of the human experience through varied perspectives. By informing the work with frayed notions and complexities of anxiety, misperceptions, stigmas, and patriarchal narratives, I navigate my way through the messiness, the struggle, until I reach a sense of peace and resolve within myself and the work.
"painting is my voice, my language. it is the truest version of myself that I can only describe in words as a sacred communion of emotional, spiritual, and physical presence, serving as a bridge that connects me at a greater level of consciousness with myself and the world around me."
"I say tap into any area of making art that is relentlessly nudging you."
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Thoughts Behind the Margin Series
A teenage girl nervously sits at her desk. She feels small and stupid. Her mind, flooded with a cacophony of self-loathing chatter as she struggles to learn and understand what the teacher is teaching. Her anxiety is through the roof. She picks up her pencil and fills the margins of her paper.
A revelatory studio session jolted me back to memories of my days as a nervous high school student when I noticed a transition in my work that encompassed the use of repetitive mark-making. Learning had become increasingly arduous for me and my inability to focus and comprehend the material had me retreating to the margins of my paper, packing them with rhythmic lines, shapes, and patterns. In retrospect, I believe it was my coping mechanism to help alleviate the state of my severe stress and anxiety.
This recollection led to further exploration of new work involving these comforting methods that I relied on as a teenager. This paradigm shift in my work has seemingly altered how I approach painting. How I employ line work is a direct correlation to youthful days of self-deprecation and self-preservation. Working with a variety of mediums, I’m revisiting an entity that consequently contributed to my lifelong feeling of intellectual inferiority and offering it renewed meaning woven into the details of these multilayered works.