Updates

-Here's a new one called "Cowboys".

These last few weeks have been pretty frustrating- Images were due for the graduate catalog a week ago and I've hit a little bit of a creative valley as of late. I never sleep anymore- maybe that has something to do with it..... Thesis writing has also been tough. I'm in between drafts 2 and 3, and have felt stumped, mainly because its tough for me to see problems with ideas and flow after having worked so much on it. Anyway, I pushed through and finished the work for the catalog and had high quality pics taken last weekend, so that's done and feels great. I also sent out multiple copies of my writing to trusted friends for positive criticism and that has really inspired me to tackle the thesis this week. I'm making major changes to it now, and can see it really coming together. I'm tired and beat, but I'm starting to sense the end coming....

I also polished my working artist statement- Here it is (comments appreciated):

My paintings navigate and comment on the historical space of 1950s America as seen in discarded snapshots and slides. Paint and brush become the tools for possessing a photograph and the memories of people and places. The camera captures a moment of frozen time, but by slowly remaking the photographic image into a painting the viewer is compelled to reconsider what is depicted and to search for its inherent meaning. In my work, the discarded snapshot is manipulated and given new life in a new context in order to comment on the ever-changing American identity. 1950s images possess a stylistic look bound to a specific and recognizable place in history, a time in our collective American past that made us who we are today.

It is the glimpses of the everyday- the shape of a chrome bumper, the stylized design of kitchen objects and period fashion, or the odd positioning of figures in personal snapshots- that remain connections to real people and speak to a collective national identity born in post-war America. In many ways they are icons; instantly recognized representations of the decade’s ideological connotations. I am actively exploring this ideology as both American history and pedigree. Through painting, archival images of the everyday become a means to explore the mystery of the past and its implications for the present.