ARTIST STATEMENT
My work elevates the mundane, mimicking the way we bring significance to loss with keepsakes and memorials. I want to create work that evokes a sense of nostalgia and exposes the sentimentality in memory. Color choice is tied to the decor and design trends of decades past that have become kitschy artifacts. I exploit the more is more aesthetic of maximalist design, a playful 1980s form of maximalism that acknowledges a love of the minimalist grid and repetition while celebrating decadence and indulgence. Repetition is an important part of my work both formally, in the reiteration of forms and sequencing of color and conceptually, in reference to the structure of the grid in art historical context. Shapes intimate objects that are no longer identifiable but retain familiarity and reference urns, shrines, and places of veneration. Embellishments like fringe and shiny gold finishes play into the chintzy aesthetic of souvenirs, recalling party decorations, parade floats and prize ribbons and elevating the ordinary to something to be celebrated.
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For a very long time, I’ve been interested in the experience of loss and my desire to express loss in visual form. My work in general is centered around the idea of memorial and a visual reference to the memory of a deeply personal experience. I love the intersection of the personal with the overtly public interaction one can experience when interacting with a memorial. I hope that people find something that feels familiar, but uncanny, in my work so that viewing the work creates an interaction that can be personalized.
