2007-2009 Thesis Work

Charlotte and Puppy Show Episodes
2007-2009 Philadelphia

Pit bulls, junkyards, abandoned lots and vacant homes are some of the reoccurring images in my painting, videos and installation, which I consider semiotics of urbanism. I want my art to tell a story. The story, much like the old maids story has a moral, which runs through and is also full of morbidity, psychology and perversion. Some of my recent inspirations are early Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and the Grimm Brothers collected fairy tales. The imagery in my work become symbols of lost utopias, just as the morals of Mr. Rogers or the politics of early Sesame Street are now lost, waiting to be rediscovered. The landscape is constructed from paper, cardboard, wood and paint. Individual episodes are a combination of coherent narrative and moments of illogical happenings, loosely based in the format of children’s television. The final product is a combination of stop animation drawings, puppetry, and performance with painterly and sculptural aspects. Many of the objects I make appear in my videos as props. I am interested in the relationship between the sculpture, paintings and video; how the sound from a video affects the paintings, how the painting provides a backdrop for a sculpture or what happens when a video is projected directly onto an object or hidden within an installation.