Artist Statment
I am drawn to the revealing collapse of material and to the overlooked. My artwork is currently focused on digital fragmentation and ruin. It stemmed from a previous interest in fragmentation as a means to study the parts to better understand the whole and as a strategy to provide viewers agency in their experience with the work. That interest in fragmentation expanded to include the notion of the Romantic ruin, which I found more intellectually stimulating than a perfect or finished form. I thought of cracks as the origin of and connection between fragments and ruin
When I discovered leftover, fragmented support materials from 3D printing, they immediately intrigued me as a subject for painting. These discarded pieces provided another layer of depth to my work, as they raised the question of what supports what. These 3D printed fragments made a new art technology and medium into the subject for the traditional one of painting.
My paintings monumentalize these tiny 3D printed scraps. I also often layer them with pixelated color blocks sourced from broken videos. They both reveal the materiality of their digital mediums. They expose key building blocks of their mediums that are removed or invisible in the final products.
I also depict these fragmented, ruined objects on broken or leftover stone and glass. I like subverting the original purpose of a material or object, while simultaneously rescuing that which would have been discarded. Layering multiple instances of ruined fragments into one art object confers greater complexity, meaning, and value to each element than when they are separate.
The 3D printed and broken video references I use are not only failing in their form, but also in their function to communicate meaningful visual data. By collecting and accumulating layers of these nonfunctional referents, I create confusing spaces moving between depth and flatness. The world in which we live is increasingly interconnected. I believe we are at a place in history where we have more means of communication than ever, yet we are failing at communicating to the point of understanding each other.