Artist Statement
My work consists of paintings and video shorts which reference the history and conventions of cinematic film and painting in the construction of their images. Film is a logical source for these compositions which seek to call upon a sense of a dramatic narrative. The subject of these works deal with fractured narratives and the way in which one organizes these relationships in order to create meaning. Cinematic qualities of the paintings recall composited frames or scenes of film, while the videos utilize conventions of painting through still shots and emphasis on the image. The work explores the nature of narrative by working with methodology of representation of both film and painting.
The paintings embrace historical conventions of painting and film. The fractured “scenes” within the paintings are created by composing figures and objects within the same image with inconsistent conditions such as lighting, handling, perspective and orientation from one entity to the next. These inconsistencies suggest a sense of manipulated time and space when considered in relation to one another. The naturalistic handlings and cinematic presentation of the paintings recall the appearance of film. Ironically, when the blur or smear is used in the paintings, it serves as both a reminder of the malleable qualities of paint and recalls blurring in the capturing of images in film.
The form of the video shorts employs conventions of not only film, but painting. As Hayden White writes in The Content of Form, “The capacity to envision a set of events as belonging to the same order of meaning requires some metaphysical principle by which to translate difference into similarity- requires a subject common to all referents given.” The fragmentation of the narrative in my work is used to force the viewer to organize a narrative from the inconsistent information and be aware of the act of doing so.
The construction of the components of narratives both within the image and with formal qualities of paint and film, allows the work to stimulate the viewer’s experience. The dramatic narratives are suggested in order to call attention to the significance of these types of experiences dealing with internal and external relationships. By presenting the audience with a fractured space, time, and dramatic narrative dealing with external and internal relationships, the work allows the viewer to relate these narratives to the organization of their own post-modern experiences.
