ARTIST STATEMENT

It is my belief that art can and should be a powerful tool in evoking conversations and thoughts.  Art can and should be something other than visual Muzak.

In my work I try to express issues that I think need to be addressed such as misogyny, poverty, homelessness and mortality. I know that the only way to address issues is to first become aware of them. One of the artists from which I take inspiration, and there are many that inspire me, is George Wolf. In victorian England if a woman became pregnant while unmarried, she was shunned by society and often by her family.  Many of these women seeing no option committed suicide by jumping into and drowning in the Thames.  They were pulling so many bodies out of the river that the Times of London ran a column called “Found Drowned”.  This column listed the bodies that had been pulled from the Thames.  George Wolf found this to be unacceptable and so painted a picture he called “Found Drowned”.  It was of the body of a young lady laying on the bank of the Thames under a bridge.  That painting change society’s attitude toward these women which then began offering them support reducing the number of suicides.

Art is a powerful tool which can be used for good as in the example above or for ill as represented by the propaganda from past and recent history. I create because it is my hope to leave the world a little bit better.