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My work invites the viewer to become a voyeur and I welcome the awkwardness that follows that role. By painting representational forms in spaces rooted in a shared reality, I create a portal to investigate everyday rituals and myths through a critical lens. I question societal norms through the unexpected framing of scenes and insertion of surreal elements and supernatural happenings. Subjects play out in uneasy theatrical situations, with the painting acting as a sort of tableaux. Collectively they speak to larger narrative themes running throughout my work. This allows me to create a space and platform to challenge Western Patriarchal ideas of beauty, gender conformity, and sexuality.
I believe in the power of figuration in my artwork. My paintings, often large, confront the viewer with life-size figures. When making these figures I measure out their proportions in conjunction with my own, and painting becomes an active and reflective space for me. Depicting everyday spaces gives the work breadth, as their familiarity eases the dialogue between my paintings and a larger audience. Drama is vital to the paintings due to the depictions of characters performing roles within the staging of the compositions. I also use humor as a device, often with undertones of desperation and discomfort. This is achieved through a bright color palette, and the use of grotesque figures as protagonists in the drama.
Being aware of spectatorship remains vital, I do not wish for these scenes to sit quietly on the canvas, a passive space to peer through. My aim as an artist is to be an active, and often times, aggressive presence, daring the viewer’s gaze and judgement.