I create art as a way to ground myself and feel more alive. Whether it’s abstract or representational, making art is a kind of witnessing.
You decide who will appear in Artforum Magazine, take home $25,000, and display their work at The Art of Elysium's Salon!
I see-saw between interpretations of the natural world and its elements; the disrupted landscape and abstract collage. I love working in a variety of mediums; encaustic, oil, ink, watercolor & collage. Each has it’s joys and constraints. I like to straddle the materiality, texture & history of marks with what it is that might be trying to get made. Like a flower that begins to disintegrate into painted marks close up.That agonizing balancing act is also my favorite place to be when creating art.
Where do you find inspiration?My favorite type of art is the kind that makes me see things differently. Representational skill —like Jenny Saville or Alice Neel—when in equal measure with emotive, expressive painting excites me. Abstract collage based painting and sculpture —like Robert Rauschenberg—has also always inspired me. Renaissance artists like Velasquez - with his incredibly loose, facile mark making and powerful portraiture. Scottish landscape painter Joan Eardley, with her expressive mark making.
What would you do with $25,000?I would be able to focus more of my time on painting and possibly promoting my work! Due to some health issues, I have lost income over the last three years and struggle to balance my time with my art making.
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