artist statement

Marcuse stated that, “The need for possessing, consuming, handling and constantly renewing the gadgets, devices, instruments, engines, offered to and imposed upon the people, for using these wares even at the danger of one’s own destruction, has become a “biological” need,” and truly ahead of his time offered a solution: “The truth of art lies in its power to break the monopoly of established reality to define what is real.” Herbert Marcuse, a pioneering mind of the social theory-focused Frankfurt School, argued that art is important for slowly shifting the consciousness of the people who could be catalysts for social change. Art is a powerful tool for self-reflection, both personally and enmass. Through my own psychological diagnoses I have found that to be so, and have wondered if psychological impairment is simply existing in a “reality” too far outside the norm to be understood.

At University of California Santa Cruz, my study of art would be to incorporate these ideas into palliative responses for people to enjoy, perhaps consume, and share. A majority of my life has been spent in a sort of forced but self-imposed social isolation and living in the environment, amongst like-minded individuals, would be of the utmost importance to defining me as an artist. I have yet to understand my own art, but I understand my process to be a study of the world viewed through the viscous ooze of my subconscious. The “mind” is a common theme in my work; and a struggle to see “what-is.” My work has been described most as “quiet,” “ambient” and “atmospheric.” This likely emerges because I view art as a meditative experience through which to calm the mind’s noise. This philosophy causes me to appreciate the intricacies of many mediums, but I would like to focus my study on interdiscplinary mediums so as to present my ideas with more specificity and clarity. I am a self-taught illustrator, whose mediums have included fabric, gouache, oil paint, photography, and charcoal. I want to learn the most intriguing ways to reflect the world to ourselves.