“The Contortionist”
“The Escape Artist”
“The Sword Eater”
“The Fat Lady”
“The Human Skeleton”
“The Siamese Twins”
“The Half Woman”
“Spiral of Rituals”
“Spiral of Rituals” Senior Thesis
Installation of free standing cut-outs, life size graphite drawings on paper 2005
Artist Statement for “Spiral of Rituals” Installation 2005
This body of work is a series of life-sized drawings. They are done on paper with graphite pencils, which are then turned into cutouts that are freestanding from the wall. The subjects are mannequin like, abject women who are drawn as if they are monsters or freaks being displayed on a stage or in a circus sideshow. There is a voyeuristic element to the work because they are torturing themselves on display and we are allowed to watch. The figures are watching the viewers watch them and therefore are in control of the situations they have placed themselves in. At the same time there are no sexual organs on the female creatures and there are allusions to self-inflicted eating disorders as well. These are two different ideas merged together to address the issue of often hidden neuroses.
Distorted and contorted bodies are an important part of my work. They represent the internal struggle that is twisting and pulling in impossible directions. The drawings are a way of visually representing the sense of an uncomfortable and disturbing presence. Eating disorders and the women who house them are similar to how the world perceives and often times idolizes freaks. We are surrounded by images everywhere of idealized females totally devoid of any humanity, and they are fetishized. I place symbols in my drawings that embellish these themes of fetishes with eating and the body, like hair. Obsession surrounds the simple task of eating, how much is eaten, digestion, and how the intake is purged. The purging process becomes a fascination with many gratifications.
My work deals with the abject body, female figures that are grotesque or incomplete. My skills with the pencil draw the viewer in through technical virtuosity. I seduce the viewer to examine the work, and upon further inspection they realize that they are looking at something disturbing. I hope to evoke a negative aesthetic response from people. To achieve this goal I render images that create connection and rejection, repulsion and attraction.