As a species of storytellers, we create narratives around everything we do. It is how we connect to others and elevate the everyday. In my drawings and paintings, I stage narratives from characters that I find in my daily life and travels. These individuals are a combination of my closest friends and complete strangers, and together they reflect the settings in which I observe them. They combat the stereotypes of maligned generations, they reflect a particular time and place, and express the culture of a specific group of people. The influence of cinema and theater is intertwined through the staging of their environments and the transparent overlapping of their movements.
The figures within my work are an intimate part of my paintings, even though I’ve only met some of them. Even a moment’s passerby becomes a key element to my anecdotes. As I observe them, they become more familiar to me, like a character in a show or play. They have lives that are separate from the viewer, but momentarily allow observers inside. While I remain at a distance in order to observe, the bonding I do with my characters rests in the painting of acute details. By layering in watercolor, the transparency of this unforgiving medium creates a luminosity that hints towards the ethereal, despite the figures being unidealized. I paint people just as I see them, so they are scruffy, casual, and sometimes awkward, features that are often abandoned in the media. The way in which these figures are placed on the paper, with overlapping transparent poses and bodies is reminiscent of hand-drawn animation. The work elicits memory, nostalgia, and provides underlying commentary on social structures.
The figures within my work are an intimate part of my paintings, even though I’ve only met some of them. Even a moment’s passerby becomes a key element to my anecdotes. As I observe them, they become more familiar to me, like a character in a show or play. They have lives that are separate from the viewer, but momentarily allow observers inside. While I remain at a distance in order to observe, the bonding I do with my characters rests in the painting of acute details. By layering in watercolor, the transparency of this unforgiving medium creates a luminosity that hints towards the ethereal, despite the figures being unidealized. I paint people just as I see them, so they are scruffy, casual, and sometimes awkward, features that are often abandoned in the media. The way in which these figures are placed on the paper, with overlapping transparent poses and bodies is reminiscent of hand-drawn animation. The work elicits memory, nostalgia, and provides underlying commentary on social structures.
