Artist’s Statement

My abstract drawings, mixed media, and oil paintings explore the psychological dimensions of situated experiences in real world contexts. Through drawing and painting, I record a “place,” a cognitive map reflecting somewhere between my direct experience and my consciousness of that experience. My works take on various forms and use different media, but they constitute a unified vision.

In my oil paintings, I celebrate our natural, exterior world while illuminating our interior, emotional states. I appropriate water as a metaphor for life experience. Inspired by the light and atmosphere of the Southern California coastline, I am painting a series of ocean horizons that inquire into the space between lived experience and imaginative transformation. The subject matter depicts seascapes that invite viewers to contemplate the beauty of the natural world while transporting them to a fictional place—a distant horizon where the objective and subjective meld. Paintings entitled Transition, Breakthrough, Pacified, and Wavelenghts are intended to promote reflectivity, serenity, calm, and tranquility in the viewer despite impending change. Color is celebrated in my work and I use it deliberately to transform situated space into an emotional state.

My mixed media works and drawings investigate how we record, construct, and share visual experiences. They deal with how we travel and map our experiences within specific contexts. My large-scale drawings and paintings map out a locale be it physical or psychological. Incorporating observational drawing, abstract painting, collage, papermaking, and manipulations of non-traditional materials, the maps are often constructed using found materials on site which are then recycled into the work. Hence, the maps are materially composed of the places they define. Paper material collected on site is broken down into pulp and reformed into sheets of paper that testify to the color, texture, and character of the site. The papers are then collaged, drawn upon, manipulated, and torn away to reveal underlying layers reminiscent of an archaeological dig. I record multi-perspectival views of the site with observational drawings and I capture the essence of the site with abstract images. This interplay reveals multiple routes for travelling the forms and spaces depicted. Not only is my map a memento of lived experience, it becomes the foundation for future construction and interpretation. My mixed media works evolved from living in diverse cultures such as Portugal, China, and Italy. For example, Matera a small town in southern Italy, and Roman Map are artifacts of my experiences living in Italy. My mixed media works reflect inner landscapes as well. Through my experiences as an emerging artist in New York City, I produce such works as Chinatown Summer, Magic Carpet, and Commute which document the excitement and challenge inherent in the life of an artist. In short, I am as excited and interested in the journey as I am in the destination. My drawings and paintings are souveneirs of this process that entice the viewer to embark on their own journey.