Artist Statement

I have always felt that conflict defined me. There was an internal struggle between how I felt and what I thought. My work has taken form in many mediums, and tackled many issues, but consistently the theme of cognitive dissonance rang true. In early works religion and politics were central as a motif, dark and occult symbolism cultivated an air of mystery and disjointed narrative, while pop-cultural touchstones and cartoonish visual elements helped to humanize and humorize the pieces. However, with a greater look inside myself and my work I have found that my existential discomfort has myriad sources, and that my pieces reflect that.

While acquiring my Bachelor’s the focus of my work was my connection with the church and religious art – love of the symbols and the comfort of the ritual, as well as the horrifying narratives that often accompanied them. My works were detail-heavy line work, often citing pop-culture and politics. Obsessive patterns were intended to draw the viewer in for closer looks at hidden imagery, and fantasy motifs conjured a tone of medieval conspiracy. While the work reflected a time in my life, a single cross section of my experience, I have since gone on to explore my heart and mind more and expand the scope of my body of work.

In my most recent series, titled Liminal Horror, I have extruded the constant discomfort and paranoia present in my struggles with OCD. The series became a work of visual poetry, meant to capture the language of uncertainty, the symbols of fear, and the lonesome atmosphere of suffering from severe mental illness – however, many of the more obvious motifs such as contamination aren’t present. I sought instead to generalize the feelings by avoiding the specific, a strategy I learned through conversation. In my experience people have tended not to understand the minutiae of suffering, however, striking a delicate balance of symbols helps to bring people’s minds and hearts to an understanding. That the fear of the particular is only a symptom of constant and unspecified dread. There is more to fear when you don’t know what to fear.

My work has had a trajectory of specifying my feelings, then turning them inside out, dumping their contents for display. Going forward I’m excited to find more ways to express my experiences with mental illness, and with interpersonal struggles using digital art and exploring interactive media. Beyond that I have an interest in helping other to formulate their expression by way of teaching.