Paintings

NOM NOM

Exhibition at Channel to Channel Gallery

When confronted with the idea of female vulnerability, I reflected upon my perception that the term references (for myself and perhaps also others) an outdated system that would hold women as inherently more weak or fragile than men. My response to the implication was to question male vulnerability and the role of masculine or male presenting imagery as I have previously done in other series, such as Bouquet of Orchids. 

In this series, I continue to explore how colors, symbols, and facial expressions have implied gendered stereotypes. Whether it is through color palettes, gestures, or symbols such as body hair or makeup, I question where our biases in representational images lie and hope to prompt the viewer to reconsider their relationship with a gendered lexicon of cultural motifs

Bouquet of Orchids

Works Available at Laney Contemporary

In Bouquet of Orchids, my series of paintings, I have been thinking about the social scripts, masks, illusions and ideologies that structure how we interact with and respond to one another based on identity. Cultural facades disguise the supposed unsightliness of our humanity, in mind and body. Our imperfect looks, faults and awkward behaviors are photoshopped, optimized, edited, and readied for social media and cultural absorption. I find myself questioning the relationship between these social pressures and expectations and our individual inner monologues and psychological well-being. How do these pressures affect paradigms of individual reality as well as our understanding and compassion for ourselves and others? 

We are all influenced by social systems like popular and traditional cultures, religion, government, and these systems influence our behavior towards others similar and dissimilar from ourselves. There is a reflex and quickness to judge and condemn others that express difference outside of the manicured, homogenous, binary, synthetic and systematized order. 

It’s my intention to create a moment to pause - to consider the symbols, representations and codes associated with the body that fall just outside of accepted cultural norms; hairy lips, fertile flowers and fleshy pinks; and ask ourselves if this image is ok. Can we sit with and find acceptance for symbols that are very much like ones we have already seen, but are ever-so slightly different? It’s my hope that we can. If we can’t, can we be brave enough to ask ourselves why? We are all different: a little crazy, weird, ugly, strange, awkward, off-putting and peculiar, but that’s where we all find our shared humanity.