Hello! I am a self taught oil painter, primarily working in portraiture. I first came to portraiture accidentally in 2018 through the contradictory, morally complex faces of Roy Cohn and haven't looked back since. I grew up in North Carolina and studied primarily theater, visual art, and history at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor Maine. I currently live in Washington DC where I work in theater. Thanks for coming by!
Artist Statement:
I paint people. People as biography, looking for their soul in all four corners, or people as vessels, searching for something larger than their form, or perhaps both at once. I get to explore or begin a relationship with someone, and I hope the viewer can as well. Through the direct gaze of the subject they can be implicated into someone’s world and asked to listen closely. I strive for work that grasps hold of you, firmly, and doesn’t let go. Work that gives you a piece of someone else whether that be their pain, joy or perspective.
I paint in oils, often on a small, personable scale, with saturated contrasting tones and painterly brushstrokes, focusing on character, age, memory, truth, and human connection. I often use old photos as reference, whether it’s of my own family, old mugshots, or portraits of well known people of years ago, they give me the feeling of folding time and co-production with the past. Bringing together memories, forgotten pieces, with the contemporary and universal. My interest in memory came out of my experience with my grandmother and other elders who inspired me to explore intergenerational relationships, memory loss, and our view of aging. I hope to use paint to get to know my world, to find joy, to construct a person that makes someone feel seen or begin to see someone else anew.
Artist Statement:
I paint people. People as biography, looking for their soul in all four corners, or people as vessels, searching for something larger than their form, or perhaps both at once. I get to explore or begin a relationship with someone, and I hope the viewer can as well. Through the direct gaze of the subject they can be implicated into someone’s world and asked to listen closely. I strive for work that grasps hold of you, firmly, and doesn’t let go. Work that gives you a piece of someone else whether that be their pain, joy or perspective.
I paint in oils, often on a small, personable scale, with saturated contrasting tones and painterly brushstrokes, focusing on character, age, memory, truth, and human connection. I often use old photos as reference, whether it’s of my own family, old mugshots, or portraits of well known people of years ago, they give me the feeling of folding time and co-production with the past. Bringing together memories, forgotten pieces, with the contemporary and universal. My interest in memory came out of my experience with my grandmother and other elders who inspired me to explore intergenerational relationships, memory loss, and our view of aging. I hope to use paint to get to know my world, to find joy, to construct a person that makes someone feel seen or begin to see someone else anew.