Most Recent Work

Forbidden Death, Mixed Media

35" X 50"

2012

Label: 
Death has always interested me as a forbidden subject that has become taboo in modernity.  What was once a collective rite has become overtly sexualized and hidden, the space of death moving from the privacy of one’s home to the institutionalized space of the hospital.   In this piece, I attempt to conceptualize death as a romantic act, moving in its own right.  My morbid fascination with death is a sublimation of its current interpretation as wild and forbidden.  I do not ask the viewer to shrink from death, but to understand it as natural phenomena, whether it is self-inflicted, such as the suicidal victim or the anorexic, or due to natural causes.

Much of my previous work has been inspired by Rauschenberg, abstract expressionism, and contemporary artist, Andy Saftel out of Nashville, TN.  Forbidden Death again draws on such artists both physically and conceptually, its first layer a collage of varying artists’ works taped onto the canvas with blue painters tape.  I’ve applied the acrylic densely, mostly using a palette knife, to create a multilayered universe in which to add varying realistic and/or abstract gems.  By dividing the composition with strong horizontal and vertical lines, I attempt to add stability to a world that is otherwise a cacophonous jungle of images.  My concept for this piece drew on past readings of Durkheim’s Suicide and Philippe Ariés Western Attitudes towards Death and my desire to visually describe our culture’s view of death as a forbidden space.

The Expressionist's Mind, Oil

2012

Untitled, Oil

2012

No Space, Abstraction, Acrylic

2012

Body Farm, Oil

2012

Clipped, Oil

2012

Printmaking

                      "Ticking Time Bomb" Etching. Spring 2011

                     "Yellow Wallpaper" Etching.  Spring 2012

First Year Work at the University of Virginia

Self-Portrait, Pastel, 22x30

AP Concentration

Not bloody or particularly grotesque, a hanging man is a simplistic, yet subtly dark, image of death. For most, the initial idea of a person hanging may produce sadness -- thoughts of religious sacrifice or evidence of racial dispute. However, in my work, I challenge the viewer to look more objectively at the hanging man in this environment of bright colors, abstract and layered images, and texture to see the hanging man for what he really is, a romantic, elusive symbol of an end. Inspired by one of my favorite theatrical productions, Arthur Miller’s Crucible, I began my concentration attempting to betray the silence and awe of the hanged rather than the depressing side of the image. Yet, as I completed piece after piece, my work slowly transformed to carry more meaning and symbolism than I ever imagined it could. Testing different landscapes and materials from which a person could hang, I’ve found that the hanging man can fit almost anywhere. Everything has an end, everything can be viewed as romantic, and anything can provoke a beauty so serene that silence is the only possible response; that’s what I’ve discovered through my manipulation of the scenes of hanging men, no matter where you are, who you’re with, what you’re doing, there is an unspoken stillness that surrounds you. Perhaps you may not be as perceptive of this stillness and do not see the dead people hanging from your school hall as the little boy in The 6th Sense does, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.

2008

This collection is comprised of images done during my high school Painting class, my AP Studio Art class, and on my own.

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2007

This collection is composed of images created during my high school art foundations class, as well as, on my own.

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Watercolor (Fall 2007)

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Pencil (Fall 2007)

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Pastel (Winter 2007)

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Watercolor (Winter 2007)