My body of work, while all are taking the format of portraiture, can be assessed in two genres: figurative and abstract. My abstract works are highly psychological, stemming from family trauma, growing up with a special needs sibling, and struggles with my own mental health. The paintings are a part of an intuitive process that I try to make as free as possible, and manifests by a visible hand, bristles on the canvas, and no predetermined palette. The work is finished when I have translated the traumas into something I deem to be beautiful.
My paintings of girls are more rooted in the physical world. They are products of entanglement between love and hate and immersion and exclusion. They come from a world in which at one point I longed to be a part of, then somehow found myself in the middle, while at that same time still feeling a sense of rejection. I figured that if I can never fully have these things that I long for, painting them will somehow make them mine. Growing up in a wealthy town, not fitting in, external and internal battles, emotional suppression, New York City, the internet, influencers, a generation being influenced by influencers: pieces of things I’ve experienced and observed which fuel this work. They are both extensions from me and also far removed; I’m still figuring out how that works.
