(Materials for the paintings and sculptures in this body of work include: acrylic paint, tempura powder, tempura paint, charcoal, sumi ink, joint compound, plaster, wood, yarn, wood glue, glitter, nails, staples, and house paint.)
Finished Pieces.
Words on It's A Love Story
When I began this series of work, I wanted to express the relationships I have with people I love without being corny. I created my own symbolism, which of course is a conglomeration of a lifetime of symbolism, and composed drawings and paintings based off of romantic and imagined interactions I have had with men. For the first time in many years I was painting regularly, but I was using a completely different approach to the surface. No longer sourcing material from my photography, I began using texture, color, and non-traditional materials to answer the question: “Why do I fall in love with people whom I hardly know?”
During this time I began reading several books and essays on feminism and paganism, but the text that has really pushed my practice is We, Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love by Robert A. Johnson, which is largely based in Jungian psychology. There was then a shift in how I approached the work; the paintings were no longer about my relationships with other people, but about an internal dialogue with myself. This shift changed the nature of the paintings because I then was asking the question, “What do I need to realize in order to resist projecting my desires onto other people, which leads to disappointment, when they are incapable of fulfilling those desires?”
Now, the paintings reflect an internal dialogue using materials that contain narrative significance to my past: i.e. joint compound as a masculine material because I grew up working with my dad on construction projects and crocheted pieces as a feminine material because of my relationships with my grandmothers teaching me fiber arts at a young age. The materials become the physical and aesthetic representation of my internal search for balance.
During this time I began reading several books and essays on feminism and paganism, but the text that has really pushed my practice is We, Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love by Robert A. Johnson, which is largely based in Jungian psychology. There was then a shift in how I approached the work; the paintings were no longer about my relationships with other people, but about an internal dialogue with myself. This shift changed the nature of the paintings because I then was asking the question, “What do I need to realize in order to resist projecting my desires onto other people, which leads to disappointment, when they are incapable of fulfilling those desires?”
Now, the paintings reflect an internal dialogue using materials that contain narrative significance to my past: i.e. joint compound as a masculine material because I grew up working with my dad on construction projects and crocheted pieces as a feminine material because of my relationships with my grandmothers teaching me fiber arts at a young age. The materials become the physical and aesthetic representation of my internal search for balance.
Process Images.
