STATEMENT
My work explores the complex psychological realities of childhood and its legacy. I deconstruct childhood, focusing on concepts such as innocence, shame, self-consciousness, aggression, love and loss. Though much of my work over the years has focused on the solitary figure, in 2008, I began creating works by layering diversely rendered, abstracted heads, hands and feet. Along with expressive painting and drawing, this layering technique is a primary element in my current work, which is created using graphite on paper and oil on canvas. I gather images that include master drawings, snapshots, self portraits, sketches, cartoons, illustrations and doodles to use as source material; though, the majority of the images suggest themselves as I am working. These works are executed over long periods of time (usually about six months but sometimes up to two years) and are layered, erased, changed, added to, scraped, destroyed, and built up to expose the messy, beautiful, scary, pedestrian and extraordinary bits of childhood.