As a child, I had an urge to rearrange the spaces around me by manipulating furniture and objects until their configurative sum felt “correct”. I enjoyed a false sense of contentment until feelings of uneasiness eventually crept back in. The process would then repeat with no definitive resolution. It was a temporary fix at gaining an inkling of self-control when I felt I had none.
My paintings act as an extension on this form of childlike play. In my work, I am recontextualizing the imagery of historical porcelain figurines within an artificial landscape to form a fabricated narrative. The objects resemble less infantile toys with an untouchable demeanor. The sugar-coated allure of the candy-like colors is merely a façade for what is truly occurring in the scenes: deceit, fear, and unrest.
I seek to evoke sensations of uneasiness, delusion, and need for control by staging the paintings within a playful and yet frivolous rococo-like aesthetic. I consider these scenes almost as operatic sets with a sprinkle of the absurd and touch of comedic flare. Within the compositions, objects mock bodily forms with moments that imply their demise such as a falling vase, flaccid candles dripping, and oozing goo. Utilizing a curtain, begs the question as to whether a scene’s narrative is entering its completion or on the verge of flux. Floating hands and feet symbolize an unseen manipulative force, desperate for control.
The paintings involve a moment between moments with an implication of turmoil. I want the viewer to question how the objects will continue to interact beyond the stillness of the image. The objects reside on the precipice of destruction, though are ironically stuck within a static image. Each painting exists as a crescendo to an unseen conclusion; one which is left to the viewer to decide.