2023

The pieces in this portfolio are works in oil paint on wood paneling and oil on canvas. Each of these paintings has a bit of myself in it: plants and baubles in the first, carefully selected colors in the second, little objects I enjoy in the third, a delightful grossness in the forth, and a lot of those things combined in the final. Stylistically I’ve utilized varied marks and spaces of differing textures in an effort to maintain a bit of intrigue in each painting. I like my paintings to look at the same time messy and very intentional. I start each painting by blocking out the clearest shapes in the subject matter. I try to do this in one sitting and to cover as much of the canvas as possible as I don’t want to let myself get bogged down by the details. I then build up layers, each building in detail, similar to the process of indirect painting. Throughout the semester I’ve found myself continuously returning to a few key questions. The first is a question of what makes some art boring to me and why that is the worst feeling in my mind. The next few focus on themes of decay, separation from one’s body, and where beauty can be found in these things. For a lot of my life I have experienced this inexplicable feeling of dissociation from my own body. This is why I am so fascinated by these themes in much of my work. I take a lot of inspiration from Hieronymous Bosch’s depictions of hell, specifically where he places body parts and organ-like images interacting with miniature people. I’ve also taken inspiration from the more current artist Jared Brady in his use of smoky textures in otherwise very traditional still lifes. As I continue to make these works I hope to examine and experiment with these themes and techniques and in this way to reconcile with my own bafflement with my body and how beauty can be informed by this.