My transdisciplinary practice is a synthesis of assorted passions including critical theory, social justice, pop culture, and street art. As a scholar of both studio art and political science, I am intrigued by the role of visual vocabularies in effecting paradigm shifts. Whether it is looking at wheat-pasted propaganda posters down a busy city street or the subtle brocade on an upholstered sofa, I find inspiration in how repetition sets up certain psychological expectations and how those same expectations can then be subverted. Pattern serves as a useful mechanism to talk about many aspects of the human experience, from consumer culture to stereotypes, in order to make pointed critiques about our society. A constant theme in my various projects is identity; I am infinitely curious about how we represent ourselves and how others see us. Parody, appropriation, and collage-techniques tie what I make back to larger movements in contemporary culture.

Printmaking is the foundation of my creative pursuits. My current interest in print vacillates between its relationship with mixed-media appropriation and its connection to the artist’s multiple. Furthermore, printmaking offers a seamlessness that allows photographic and hand-drawn imagery to be peeled away from their disparate sources and built into something else altogether. Often times, digital work occurs in the front end of my process, collaging raster-based found images and original vector drawings in much the same way another artist might sketch. These digital files can be outsourced to third parties for production or outputted into anything from films, laser engraved plates, or CNC blocks and returned to the fine art print studio for hand printing. Whether considering the flexibility of digital files or the mere abundance inherent in printmaking, my creations can be revised, rearranged, and repurposed.

Site-specific installation satisfies this yearning to tweak and experiment, but also provides me a means to envelop my audience in the sights, sounds, and sensations I have created for them. The transformation of space disorients my viewing audience, priming them for an experience where expectations are challenged. Bright color and humor infuse critical commentary, tinging some ideas more palatable and others more noxious. Above all, my goal is to construct situations that make my audience think critically about what we take for granted, how we judge ourselves, and how we treat our neighbors.