Artist Statement

My artwork exists among the weird, abnormal and grotesque. I like to think my work is somewhat like the circus, freak show or a car accident, people cannot help but look. I have always been drawn to the strange and unusual, from the music I listen to, to the movies I watch. Beauty is such a subjective thing but I believe there is a canon of beauty that is placed on society, that I try to stray away from by means of alteration. Destroying these ideas I believe I am creating something else, destroying beauty to create artwork. To a degree art should not be pretty. During the process of making I am constantly asking myself: “is this a conventional way of going about rendering this idea?” I want the viewer to walk away from an artwork of mine somewhat confused or surprised by the content, process or media. The combination of media, I feel adds layers of this outside element of surprise. I use multiple mediums to keep myself interested as well. With photography I try to stray away from conventional, straight photography. I deal with a good amount of manipulation because I feel that we see normal aspects of life everyday so why not create something normally unseen. I am constantly thinking about comparing and contrasting forms, ideas and emotions. Aspects of the body tend to present themselves in my work as metaphors for emotions, body as a specimen and to present my artist hand. The term aesthetics always come to my mind when making artwork and the subjective idea of beauty is quite interesting. I work in an array of media. As of today, I am predominantly working with photography with aspects of collage, drawing, sculpture and installation. My photographic processes are mainly done through color or black and white film and paper processes but occasionally I will work digitally. Sculpturally I have been working with wire, electrical wire, light bulbs and plexiglass. There is a moment that happens with my work when 3 dimensional objects are depicted 2 dimensionally and then rendered 3 dimensionally as the final product. My process is usually chosen by means of the idea and what process I feel works best for getting that certain point across.