IN BED
I have narcolepsy and have a special relationship with my bed. It has changed over time. I used to have realistic night-terrors in high school, but now in my middle age, I welcome my sleep and my dreams as a time of healing and rejuvenation. This series explores people's relationship with their bed and their dreams.
PIECES OF ME
I have narcolepsy and it takes me less than a minute to reach my REM sleep dreams as well as to come back to alert conscience. I think through my dreams and nightmares and can sometimes manipulate the story. This blur of sleep and awake has cause my dreams to become like memories to me.
These paintings are the reoccurring dreams I had from puberty up into my late 20s. I went to private Catholic school from kindergarten to 12th grade and was "brainwashed" to think sex and sexuality was bad and that if I sin, my soul would become dirty and I would go to hell when I die. Even though I no longer believe this and have a healthier view of life and spirituality, I can't completely shake ideas that were imbedded into my brain when I was a child.
EAT ME
In my teens and twenties, I had a negative voice inside my head that would be my motivation to restrict calories and over exercise in order to loose weight. Now that I'm older, I have a positive voice inside my head and I have become content with my body. I'm now in my mid 40s and it took one negative comment about me being overweight that caused that nasty voice to come back. These paintings are from me dieting by restricting calories and also from being hurt emotionally.
CONUNDRUMS
I call this series conundrums because it's hard to decipher what is really going on in the scenes. The title of the paintings play off of two different scenarios. Sometimes our perspectives blind us to reality. It's important to step back and observe a situation or individual before coming to a judgement.
TAROT
These paintings are my interpretation and design for Tarot cards. Sometimes, in life, we feel lost and need some reassurance or validation about what actions or in-actions we should take. Each painting has a message for the viewer, so if a specific painting calls out to you, you should listen to its message.
HUMAN NATURE
These paintings and painted furniture were created during my summer residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
These works contain a lot of symbolism and metaphors that relate to my perception of the human body, soul, and behavior. Some of the work is about human nature: our social persona, how we cover-up our pain or guilt to others, and how we feed our loneliness with materials.
The other work displays a metaphor between the human body and machines. Liquid gold-leaf was added as accents to a lot of the work. (I am a big fan of Gustav Klimt.)
Masters of Intrigue
This collection of paintings is whimsical with dramatic lighting and bold colors. Most of the figures are inspired by Commedia dell'arte characters, and there is an intertwined atmosphere of masquerades, Carnival, and Mardi Gras celebration.
Supreme Beings
This is a collection of paintings portraying various religious deities ranging from Egyptian to Greek mythology. The paintings of Egyptian gods: Ra, Sekhmet, and Nekhbet have bodies and attire fashioned after late 1500s to 1800s.
Although these paintings might seem silly and absurd now with the portrayal of animal-headed humans dressed in dated attire, the people who believed in these gods or dressed in these fashions would have had a different opinion. That is to say, not one society's religious beliefs or dressing habits should be judged as better or worse.
In the end, we all are the same, just trying to survive and make sense of our current times.
Dirty Sex Suits
“Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes” ~ John Donne
The spirits are leaving their temporarily given body "suits" through a zipper. The title of each painting is derived from well-known fashion designers. I wanted to contrast the material and spiritual realms in the paintings. The material world is earthy, raw, sexual, heavy, sculpted, and realistic. In contrast, the spiritual world is bright and shiny gold leaf-painted designs.
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Dreamers & Make Believers
These paintings are of actors, musicians, and movie characters. They have boldly close-up figures, dramatic lighting, and vivid colors.
HypocritEs
These paintings and illustrations were created for my senior show at the University of Wisconsin. They contain a lot of symbolism about human nature, our odd traditions, and the yearning to conform.
STAGNANT QUICKIES
These figures are all dressed up with no where to go, waiting for something exciting to happen. I guess that's how I felt when I created these. I was at a stand still, ready for action but disappointed and frustrated because nothing was coming.
