Artist Statement

 

          As an artist, I have chosen a path that rejects conventional photographic methods, and instead, embraces the untapped, aesthetic potential of the atypical and abstract. My pieces capture elements of everyday life and routine, but display them in a manner that renders them almost unrecognizable. By utilizing abstraction and experimenting with objects’ unique characteristics, one has the ability to blur the lines between reality and how others perceive it.

 

          My goal as an artist is to bring attention to objects and ideas that are typically overlooked, discarded, or simply ignored, and portray their true essence and aesthetic potential to my viewing audience. In doing so, I include some rather unique items, including those that went into the making of this particular collection – namely, shaving cream and dryer sheets. My emphasis on formal qualities serves to remove what one might consider a ‘standard subject’ from my work, and instead, opens my pieces up to individuals’ respective interpretations, based on their own, unique set of experiences, circumstances, and characteristics. Essentially, my pieces act as psychological catalysts, which inspire the viewers to create associations and connections, see differing perspectives, and reacquaint themselves with memories and experiences from their past.

 

          Rather than alluding to or referencing the work of others, I tend to draw my greatest deal of influence from my surroundings at any given point in time. Growing up, I often found myself stopping to appreciate the subtle nuances of my natural environment – ripples on a pool of water, veins on leaves, and other, seemingly microscopic details. This tendency later became the basis for my work in abstraction – I developed a fondness for displaying the unseen potential and beauty of ‘the overlooked’ world, in both organic and man-made forms, and found myself portraying these qualities in a manner that brought a new level of complexity to the object in question. Going a step further, I have used my recent work to compare and contrast the natural and synthetic, both by creating the appearance of natural objects from man-made items and substances, and by layering photographs of organic and inorganic forms to create new, abstract conceptualizations.

 

          In a sense, a majority of my artwork draws resemblances to the Rorschach inkblot test – while the same image can be shown to multiple people, each will interpret the image in their own way based on their unique characteristics, and previous life experiences. This approach allows my audience to ‘participate’ in my artwork, so to speak, by engaging their imaginations and allowing different ideas and suggestions to come forth. These alternative perspectives allow me to look at my art in new ways, and discover new combinations and meanings that may have initially been hidden from my viewing eye. Such is life, though – one can only continue to make discoveries, and find true appreciation for the world around them if they choose to look deeply enough.