When I compose my images, I often use my father, or my sister as models and often my parents’ home as the “set.†There is something exciting about transplanting the actors from the theatre into our apartment and merging these two worlds. Through my use of a luminescent palette and theatrically charged compositions, I am working to create a decidedly feminine perspective that embodies my generation’s precarious state of un-balance
The images that I paint all have some disturbing quality, whether it’s the angle of the character’s head or the awkwardness of the distorted bodies. But in order to complicate these unsettling images, I use strong yellow hues to create a warm overall lighting that emanates throughout the entire space. I like this idea of “peaceful violence,†of seducing the viewer with bright colours, while while simultaneously confronting them with the damaged characters.
I am very interested in the narrative quality of painting, that paintings, like theatre, have the ability to draw spectators into the world of the work. I try to seduce the spectators to engage my painting and finish its story. I view my work as a starting point for the audience instead of a conclusion.
