I attentively paint hastily formed figures, symbols, objects, and scenes that were modeled with never-dry clay. I paint the malleable character of the clay by depicting its bumps, marks and dents, which emphasizes the fragility, impermanence, and the physical construction of the forms. Those visual attributes serve as a metaphor for the social construction of the concepts within the chosen imagery. To create my images, I build clay up and physically move it around—in a similar way, ideas and concepts get built up, manipulated, and changed over time. Many of my paintings serve as a cultural critique and a meditation on some of America’s attitudes towards the environment, food consumption, peace, liberty, tax policies, religion, and our obsession with competition; they allude to political failures, and national shortcomings. I use clay because it comes across as playful and innocent which helps disarm the viewer.
I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I received a BS in Art Practices from Portland State University in the Spring of 2013 and an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Spring of 2019. I currently live and work in the New York, Hudson Valley region.