My work is about freedom, and my current projects evolved from paintings that describe freedom in the form of landscapes in vast space. My older work has many colors and textures in unnatural combinations. The primary focus is to achieve a separate space from this world. The painted spaces offer viewers other options for their bodily and spiritual existence. Viewers can look at patterns, textures, and color and be transported somewhere else.
My ideas and approaches encompassed textile pieces, drawings, and acrylic paintings on canvas during the period prior to my three-year journey at FAU. Textures and patterns with various colors generated the ideas behind the work. Narrative followed form. My intent was to emphasize my ideas of freedom by creating two-dimensional spaces where this freedom could exist. I made places I wanted to be – places of discovery, places with positive vibes. Many of the paintings – the physical works – were fairly large in size, reaching out laterally to encompass the viewer. Making this work tested my hypotheses regarding how I would feel when being surrounded by such vibrant colors, textures and patterns. Each painted composition created a different mood when paired with another. They were independent universes functioning in parallel. I wanted to enter these universes and experience these emotional states for long periods.
I realized that I was making the work for myself, however I am one individual embedded in the whole of humanity. Therefore, I acknowledged that the work I was making was simultaneously for everyone else. We all experience joy, fear, restriction, freedom, anxiety, and wonder. These are shared experiences and understandings. School provides a space to learn, and it is a place where individuals who share common interests can convene and communicate. I love to be in environments where I can conduct a discussion and have an exchange with others who share my passion for making.
acrylic and thread on canvas