It all started out as a nagging complaint.
I am a Contemporary Realist painter with a quirky sense of humor and a confident handling of paint. This series of work mostly depicts anonymous female figures dressed in aprons wearing tool belts and boxing gloves or, books with titles that I have conjured up that relate in a way to form a larger narrative.
I draw my subject matter from my experiences of raising my son from birth, on my own. My figurative images of women appear powerful (and sometimes snarky) and began as a nagging complaint. The complaint was, “How am I going to get everything done, day to day?” The women are depicted with the feminine lexicons of rubber gloves used for doing the dishes, feather dusters and perhaps holding a variety of hammers and other tools. I soon realized my work was more of a celebration in that “Yes, I can get this done day after day“. Recognizing that perhaps only in this time in history could I have been able to create a life as a full time painter and mother and I cherish that independence.
The books developed from one day wondering, after not having much time to read and missing that past time, “What if any book would I want to read?”, the title immediately came to my mind. A book that everyone would want to read…”How to Un-Fuck Stuff Up”. Paintings revolve around other books such as “Why Sex Matters”, where a book sits atop many books that have been meticulously, compulsively marked with post it notes as if to say, I need to release myself and relax….
One thing I enjoy about the art work is that when someone encounters the work for the first time, there is laughter and a universal understanding of the difficulties in life and the importance of laughing at oneself. There is so much that can be endured through humor, as I feel I do. It is only natural to put it in the work.
2012 |
