Exhibitions
ME, MYSELF, AND MIND
(2022)
To explore and understand one’s mind can be daunting for many people. For someone who spends a lot of time in their own head, I find it to be almost comforting, a way to escape from the fast-paced and unfriendly world we exist in. By diving deep into my emotions, I find ways to visualize that for myself. Making sure my audience relates to my work is the difficult part. Fantasy worlds and creatures are what I used to depict the inside of my head, because a lot of what goes on in a person’s head can feel fantastical. I’ve found that presenting my inner thoughts in shadow boxes, of the canvas variety, displays the underlying mood of the work and how it can feel when we’re alone inside our heads.
Through these paintings, I combine both the external real world, and my internal fantasy world in atmospheric, moody paintings that expose the melancholy and discontentment that many humans experience. The sculptures I created alongside the paintings were made to study and use in these oil paintings to represent thoughts and emotions. Hauntingly comforting and familiar, I consider them to be my closest companions.
Working in a medium to large scale gives me the ability to go into detail in these oil painting scenes like rococo artists before me. The detail in those paintings makes it feel real, and that is what I want to do with my subject matter. My work is heavily inspired by rococo artists like Jean-Honore Fragonard, and Franz Xaver Winterhalter, as well as modern artists like Chris Austin and Martin Wittfooth, who both put familiar subjects into settings they do not belong in. With these inspirations in mind, I give you access to Me, Myself, and Mind.
Lunder Arts Center, Cambridge MA. Lesley University Senior show, Class of 2022. (May 2022)
EXQUISITE CORPSE
(2023)
“Exquisite Corpse” is a provocative exploration of the violent effects that societal standards have on the lives of countless people in the world. Originally a game invented by surrealists, these works have applied it to the modern world, and uses it to represent the natural imperfections in faces and bodies. It also opens a dialogue about how people are picked apart by societal standards, including the male gaze. The “desirables” are harvested and the rest is discarded.
The concept of the exquisite corpse juxtaposed with the beauty standards of the general public results in a violent and unsettling depiction of dismembered bodies and heads. The blood keeps the heads afloat, and acts as the connection between parts of the body that have been excoriated by the public eye. Blood, especially when intertwined with femininity, elicits repulsion and disgust from those who are ignorant of its profound meaning.
I created this work as a tribute to my inner child and to all the young girls and women who have been led astray, to believe that their worth is solely defined by where they fall on the scale of attractiveness. It is also an homage to anyone whose self esteem has suffered at the hands of public judgment. Our exquisite corpses are not playthings; they are the embodiment of nature's imperfect perfection.
Warehouse XI, Somerville MA. “Artery” pop-up show hosted by Jejune Gallery. (September 18th, 2023)
