Statement

The history and conventions of traditional painting are rooted in inherent binaries, contradictions, and ambiguities. Themes such as space vs. flatness, figure vs. ground, material vs. illusion, and representation vs. abstraction shape our understanding of the genre and the unique possibilities it presents. I engage with these themes through large-scale oil paintings, allowing contradictions to converge in surprising ways.

 

My process begins with low relief models of abstract compositions, which I construct from cut paper. I paint from these models through direct observation, using them to study how light and shadow fall across invented forms. While working, I often depart from the models, allowing invention to enter the process. In the finished paintings, soft glazes of color punctuate hard-edged shapes, drawing attention to the surface and materiality of the paint, even in moments of illusionism.

 

I am also interested in how an abstract visual language can evoke cultural and societal binaries—how a curve, a slouch, or a field of color might be read as “feminine” or “masculine,” and how those readings shift depending on context. Through shape, color, line, and form, I explore how painting can speak to the fluidity that exists within systems that often limit our understanding of more complex realities. This investigation allows me to reflect on identity as not fixed or binary, but as embodied, unstable, and in flux.

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