Artist Statement

I am using the notion of bio-invasion, or catastrophic environmental events as the catalyst for the destruction of biological forms in my large-scale mixed media drawings.  My reference material comes from anatomy, botany, cells, germs, sea life and insects.  I do not copy the referenced forms. Instead, I distort, destroy, evolve, and re-contextualize them.  The catastrophic events are not portrayed as narratives.  I am presenting the notion of what the aftermath might look like as things are settling and falling apart after such an event.  I am focusing on dismantling, unraveling my forms leaving ambient murky atmospheres filled with floating bits of organic detritus. In these images, I am attempting to capture the active dissolution and shifting of the entities as they fade in and out of focus, fall into space, and dissolve or morph into new states of being leaving shadows and hints of their existence.

The inspiration comes from my deep-rooted connection with biological sciences, my recent involvement with forensics, and my deep feelings of responsibility towards our environment fueled by my awareness of the dire effects that humans are having on it.  I am concerned about the permanent damage that we are doing with pollutants, global warming, chemicals and pharmaceuticals that get into our soil and water table, the transporting of non-native invasive species, and the genetic engineering of chimera.

Our fragile little environment that is fraught with dichotomies (beauty and decay, attraction and repulsion, clarity and obscurity, conception and death) that compel me to continue my possibly endless visual exploration.