Artist Statement
The envelopes and letters in my paintings are old and worn. Some have been repeatedly folded, others stashed out of sight for years. Some offer nostalgic reminders of things that no longer exist; others are from bygone friends. They represent relationships that were maintained across distances and referential dialogues extending through many years. In old letters we find loved ones, parents, old friends, and our old selves.
These paintings are an inquiry into the complexities of our relationships. The visual shifts in the work between what is written and what is left blank asks the viewer to think about what we keep and what we cast off. This friction nudges the boundaries between language, painting and abstraction.
I have been working with text for many years, but recently my work with text has taken a new direction. Where I previously collaged the text, in these pictures the text, stamps, postmarks, etc. are all painted. Previously the text could be read, now it is mostly illegible and where the color was subtle, now it is vivid. Before, the pictures were framed under glass, now there is no frame. I believe these changes create an unexpected, yet more intimate experience for the viewer.
By suggesting the symbiotic relationship between our past and our present, my paintings present life not as then vs. now, but as an inescapable circle of time and memory and the antithesis of our digital society.
