Artist’s Statement
My past and recent work constitutes a study of the human impulse to seek fulfillment through excess at the expense of one’s dignity. Moreover, I have found a particular fascination with the various ways in which our current cultural climate of excess has influenced the behavior of adolescents.
Many of my images are grounded in the principles of Feminism and Gender Theory and an interest in producing artwork that dissects and critiques performances of gender in contemporary culture. My work considers the conflicted relationship between contemporary social norms of innocence and a coexistent vision of gender equality that hinges upon self-consciously provocative and hedonistic performances of gender roles.
My most recent work re-imagines vanitas and memento mori as themes representing reckless intemperance. The images draw upon these traditions as contemporary visual metaphors for excess and hedonism. In this spirit, my images aim to seduce viewers into reveling in hedonistic exuberance and excess. These grotesque depictions of self-indulgence and vanity underscore the costs of our impulse toward excess and desire in which our material value—as objects of desire or figures of wealth and power—obscures both the fragility and the inherent value of the simply human.
My past and recent work constitutes a study of the human impulse to seek fulfillment through excess at the expense of one’s dignity. Moreover, I have found a particular fascination with the various ways in which our current cultural climate of excess has influenced the behavior of adolescents.
Many of my images are grounded in the principles of Feminism and Gender Theory and an interest in producing artwork that dissects and critiques performances of gender in contemporary culture. My work considers the conflicted relationship between contemporary social norms of innocence and a coexistent vision of gender equality that hinges upon self-consciously provocative and hedonistic performances of gender roles.
My most recent work re-imagines vanitas and memento mori as themes representing reckless intemperance. The images draw upon these traditions as contemporary visual metaphors for excess and hedonism. In this spirit, my images aim to seduce viewers into reveling in hedonistic exuberance and excess. These grotesque depictions of self-indulgence and vanity underscore the costs of our impulse toward excess and desire in which our material value—as objects of desire or figures of wealth and power—obscures both the fragility and the inherent value of the simply human.
