My first experiences with art began as a coping mechanism for my suffering through a painful and debilitating illness. Rather than using negative words to help write away my pain, I discovered that colors and lines could replace letters. Initially art was a selfish means through with I healed but as I pushed and pulled at the paint my work evolved to being a way I communicated my experiences with others. As I recovered from my illness, I became fascinated with rational language and how it could become part of my artwork. I took an interest in philosophy of language and text. My work manipulates letters and words in a way that breaks down our normal understanding of a term. My work brings together two things I love: the rational, logical world juxtaposed with the irrational, expressive beauty of art.
My current work medium is acrylic painting and consists of a specific process of building up letters. I cut out individual letters from a dried combination of gel medium and acrylic paint. Thus, I am able to create a 3-D layering of text and push my use of text past words and letters painted on a 2-D Canvas. Currently, I take one word and repeat the letters in different designs to make the word itself incomprehensible and make them a part of a larger painting. My work challenges the viewers' own common perceptions of words. The pieces are usually done on a 24 x 36 inch canvases or larger. The work breaks down our assumed understanding of words and deconstructs them to symbols. As symbols, letters themselves are a piece of art and my art communicates this; I layer text so that the letters fall seamlessly into each other and the canvas.
