Mission Statement

DREAMLIFE: POSSESSIONS

This is interior painting unhinged from its traditional bourgeois cataloging function (this is my wife, this is my armoire, etc.) and focusing instead on the mystical power of objects. Here, a pale rainbow light transfuses a space of intense material luxury and aesthetic appeal, empty but for the feeling of occupants just behind a veil or through the next open door. These ghostly, off-kilter, not-quite-representational interiors seen through prism lighting are both the American dream and its afterlife, something domestic and attainable but also distant, spinning off, an enchanted realm.

GIRL SERIES ARTWORKS

These figures embody our culture’s fantasy archetypes of women. They have big eyes, skinny limbs, lush half-open mouths, clouds of long hair and trailing fantasial garments – all traditional female sexual signifiers. The extreme detailing of the clothing and other trappings emphasize the role of adornment in this view of female sexuality. The poses and expressions are taken from contemporary fashion magazines, giving a nod to mass-culture in propagating a fantasy-view of the feminine. Because these embodiments are sprung from the secret life of fashion pages, the final step in the process – photographing the false, glossy creations  -- closes the circuit.

The work is sexual in nature but deliberately stops short of the graphic shock-tactics used by many contemporary artists.  Elements of romance, narrative and mystery are essential to this vision of female self-understanding,
as is the use of innocence as sexual currency.