STATEMENT, SPRING 2018 (OR - BABY'S FIRST POST-GRAD STATEMENT)

On the surface, I make work about pop culture that I’m familiar with, that I like, that I’m confused by, that I want to understand more fully. I make large-scale abstract paintings and collages, occasionally sculptures and videos, with glitter, feathers and high-key colors to lull my viewer in a beautiful fever dream.

My work is dishonest as it initially presents itself as not being “too political” or “too personal”, but it’s both at the same time while also being hashtag-eyeroll-air-quotes-relatable (and like, actually relatable because of how I integrate the viewer’s physical body). Often by telling too personal of antidotes in overly-long titles, my work becomes approachable because of the distance it pretends to provide between the viewer and the content. However, within those same titles, it becomes clear how satirical my work is.

In reality, my work critically examines images and icons constantly circulated in popular culture. Focusing in with lesbian-feminist critiques, I make campy work reflecting the unquestioned-yet-shared negative attitudes externalized towards celebrities, women, queer people and, in return, the resulting manifestations of those attitudes deeply internalized towards ourselves.

My work is a lie that tells the truth.

/ May 2018