CV
Education
2024
M.F.A., Art Pracitices Candidate, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2014
B.A., Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO
Solo Exhibitions
2023
The Memory Library Lends Life Through A Glimpse, Recology, San Francisco, CA
2022
The House of The Seamstress, Erica Tanov, Berkeley, CA
2021
The Relocation of Angeline, Metal Haus Gallery, Oakland, CA
Group Exhibitions
2024
Mane ‘N Tail, Casemore Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022
Murphy and Cadogan Award Show, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
2021
At Home, Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Residencies
2023
Recology Artist In Residence, San Francisco, CA
Awards/Scholarships
2022
Edwin Anthony & Adelaine Boudreaux Cadogan Award
Christine Tamblyn Memorial Award
Martin Wong Painting/Drawing Scholarship
Artist Statement
My mixed-media paintings depict fictional collaged worlds that question cultural and social norms. I compile sourced and personal images, collaging and redrawing them digitally as flat geometric shapes. I use this collaged drawing as a template for the artwork, using various mediums to produce a spectrum of representation and abstraction to put the real and imaginary in conversation. The choice to use a mixed-media collage approach is not only to create desired formal qualities, but also to conceptually convey the fragmented multiplicity that makes up our homes, our communities, and ourselves.
As a child I was raised on the philosophy to question everything. It is the way I currently exist in the world and is, at its healthiest, propelled by compassion and empathy. It has led me to daydream constantly of fictional worlds that grow from the primary question of “what if.” What if a city relocated its residents within the city every 7 years, what if men’s fashion wasn’t an indicator of manliness, what if kids looked up to artists like they look up to athletes? In my daydreams I can disassemble and reassemble, omit things, introduce fantastical elements. It is the action of disrupting so I can see better.
Fiction is rooted in a process of compassion. To have compassion with others who are not like me. This process is also asked of the viewer. In these fictional works I am making a very conscious choice to portray characters that look different from me. It is to practice the skill of empathy so it can carry over into everyday life. To add to the amount of non-white figures depicted in the work is an attempt to open it to a wider range of people who might see themselves in the work, in art spaces, and to reflect the diverse community I grew up in.
I am resigned to the fact that no deptiction can be wholly perfect or correct, even those that are seemingly most like me. In fact, they are not intended to be, they are fictional. I believe there should be space within art making for fictional stories and characters that are not autobiographical. There is a relative automatic acceptance of work that aligns physically, spiritually, politically, culturally with the artist. Is a version of this acceptance possible for the opposite? I am committed to trying to see the world through others lenses and have that reflect back in my work.