I grew up in rural Kansas;
an area portrayed as a vast and nearly desolate expanse dotted with modest
farmsteads. It was characterized by
Brethren modesty and utilitarian aesthetics with a whitewash clapboard
exterior. My windows to the outside world were an outdated library, animated movies,
and retro musicals filled with images of grand palaces, distant exotic lands,
and fantastic situations. This
embellished understanding of the outside world, filled me with a longing for a distinctive
visual culture that could satiate my decorative hunger.
My work
explores varied emulations of an exaggerated perception of wealth, luxury, sophistication
and bravado, all elements that were inherently foreign to my upbringing. These
seductive imitations are vehicles for exploring the outcomes of obsession. My
process is heavily performative, as I embody a near insatiable lust for the
unattainable that can only be temporarily pacified by the act of making. The alluring nature of these flamboyant
displays operatically manifests itself through saturated colors, glitter, gilding
and jewels. Each work implies the
transformative nature of these fanatical conditions, by rendering cheap
materials into something equally majestic and parasitic through a loving and
thoughtful rendering.
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