WORK
2024 2023 2022
SLUGGER
This felt piece explores the human condition of absorbing and carrying past realities with us. Though all we have is the present, we are in large parts made up of our past experiences. Half shadows half blood, half texture half light. We are all open mouths swallowing our surroundings, trudging forward with vague interpretations. This piece is an animal made of this ongoing experience, and has no function. Function is the odd, experimental, nonsensical detail in our energistic experience that makes us human, and tethers us to this physical world. This animal is us without our inherent baggage of needing purpose and resources. It embodies energy, emotion and grows larger based on its collection of experiences, not time.
Dimensions: 46” long 36” wide 14” tall
CRYING
Winter 2023-24
This ceramic sculpture is made of the tears it expels, representing infinity, and the circle of life.
Dimensions: 26” wide 16” tall 11” deep
This series explores the fluidity of humans, and therefore the fallacy of self. Humans dress as a form of self expression and act according to what they believe is a good representation of who they are. We attach the ongoing inner monologue in our heads to our sense of self, and we can use drugs or food to explore our emotional and physical capacities. We are not bound by our clothes, behavior, thoughts or what we consume. There is no self to be bound to. Every moment we change by progressing forward.
MAKE ME SICK SO I CAN REST
This piece depicts the desperate want for more, the unrelenting need to move. Even when there is no reason to, even if it means ruining what I have created, I am trapped. Being driven forward serves no purpose without intention, and not being capable of stopping is a mental prison. As a child I liked having a stomach bug because it made me feel as though I could finally rest, and now I enjoy being hungover because it cripples my brain. To quote my highschool journal, “Temperamental mind where laying back is no vacation and relaxing is a death sentence”
Dimensions: 72”X77”
BYSTANDER, PREDATOR, PREY
This series depicts my associations with animals and humans, exploring the distinctions between facts vs honesty. Each creature's form combines various animals which share physical, functional and social similarities that parallel humanity. I was inspired to begin this series by recreating a childhood drawing of a reptilian looking creature, that I have now named Bystander. Growing up I felt like a bystander to the world instead of a part of it. Stemming from that long held feeling, I began to think about other roles or perspectives animals and humans alike could have, and narrowed it down to predator and prey. Predator, Prey, and Bystander are hidden roles humans and animals can play, unseeable paths forward, changing at any time. I wanted these roles to not only be visible in the creatures essence, but to be the creatures. An object is what it looks like, making it factual and honest at the same time. Animals and humans are not this way, we are made up of facts that control how we look, but what we look like may not be honest to who we are. Energy, movement and structure are some pieces which make up a human, whereas objects have these qualities because of what they are. Meaning to me, objects are the only inherently honest thing, fully encompassing everything that they are. A box is what it announces itself to be. I am square, I have four sides. I am a box. Period. I want this honesty and lack of boundaries which objects have to be apparent in my work depicting living forms. The animal or person's structure is its energy, which amplifies its humanity and realness while at the same time objectifying and de-humanizing it. I am reducing humans and animals to the energy which I receive from them, creating stereotypes, which I believe is honesty without fact, and though can be hurtful, allow us to share with others a more accurate idea of our lens.
Dimensions:
Predator 47”X40”
Prey 38”X31”
Bystander 40.5”X30.5”
HUG ME BLANKET
This work explores early memories of receiving comfort from objects and represents a feeling of safety. Growing up I always wanted to be around more people, yet felt as though I could only be comfortable by myself. Being comfortable does not mean feeling happy, and in order to feel as though I could be more social I hid a lot of myself. A mask appears in the center of the piece, referencing an autistic coping mechanism used to hide behavior that may be viewed as weird, called masking. Here I express the battle between feeling lonely, yet comfortable with myself, and being around others, while hating myself.
Dimensions: 40”X60”
Photos by ERIK GOULD
Site by JRF