While
I understand that one day my skin will sag while my hair grays; I also
believe that the desire to remain young is not tied to one’s physical
state. Through making, I investigate the nostalgia of youth, childhood
and an imagined idealism. As I long to be simultaneously in two states
of my life at the same time: young and old; sentimental memories start a
process where selective remembrance meets purposeful fragmentation.
Larger structures are made from uncanny materials, knowing that their
structural and referential bond may not always be seamless or sound.
To channel certain parts of my youth, I pull from store bought, commercially made holiday trinkets, found material, and personal memorabilia. Vibrant pinks, airbrushed gold and candy apple reds are taken from specific commercial products to reference adolescence and celebration. While these materials and color choices allow me to blend factual and fantasized memories from my own life, their commercial reference provides accessibility to others who are outside of my personal narrative.
When working with materials that are familiar to the viewer, I push their connections in surprising ways. Mold-making techniques help this, as its free associative process to joining and casting allows for endless mixtures. A section of a reference can be made repeatedly or one small moment can be isolated to use in a new way. This unpredictable method to casting has allowed me to be willing to take risks as an artist, as I do not define a fractured cast as a “break”. Although a fractured part may not always get me from point A to point B as I necessarily planned, it provides a new destination that I was unaware of in the first place.
Isolating these unexpected moments and skinning them within a new context is what I identify with most. This uncertainty of parts can be displayed in a way that is ephemeral, never to be the same from viewing to viewing. I find bridges between the fleeting memories of my life and the transitory states of my pieces, as they too will never be the same over time. While I am interested in the reality of what growing older entails, the fluidity of this process allows me to own a child-like curiosity that is at once: nostalgic and undiscovered.
To channel certain parts of my youth, I pull from store bought, commercially made holiday trinkets, found material, and personal memorabilia. Vibrant pinks, airbrushed gold and candy apple reds are taken from specific commercial products to reference adolescence and celebration. While these materials and color choices allow me to blend factual and fantasized memories from my own life, their commercial reference provides accessibility to others who are outside of my personal narrative.
When working with materials that are familiar to the viewer, I push their connections in surprising ways. Mold-making techniques help this, as its free associative process to joining and casting allows for endless mixtures. A section of a reference can be made repeatedly or one small moment can be isolated to use in a new way. This unpredictable method to casting has allowed me to be willing to take risks as an artist, as I do not define a fractured cast as a “break”. Although a fractured part may not always get me from point A to point B as I necessarily planned, it provides a new destination that I was unaware of in the first place.
Isolating these unexpected moments and skinning them within a new context is what I identify with most. This uncertainty of parts can be displayed in a way that is ephemeral, never to be the same from viewing to viewing. I find bridges between the fleeting memories of my life and the transitory states of my pieces, as they too will never be the same over time. While I am interested in the reality of what growing older entails, the fluidity of this process allows me to own a child-like curiosity that is at once: nostalgic and undiscovered.
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