artist's statement
Currently, I am making paintings that use “the forest” as an anthropological metaphor that invites the viewer to contemplate the relationship between the forest’s structural properties, its inhabitants and its visitors. At times, the “figures” of animals and humans dissolve into the forest itself and become a part of its trellised architecture; at other times, such figures emerge from among the trees.
I am in the process of creating a series of paintings that uses and extends this specific tree metaphor to explore the extent to which artists may provide a moral compass and open a space for resistance against political and cultural hegemonies. Given that trees and forests have the capacity to both conceal and shelter, and to disorient the visitor into seeing things that are not there, this project will explore the capacity for images of trees and forests to reveal and expose a multiplicity of perspectives.