Artist Statement
I draw and paint the human figure in contemporary urban settings, which I depict from unfamiliar vantage points, imbuing everyday subject matter with renewed dynamism. The vantage points are augmented in polyptychs as a means to subdivide images into multiple parts, to fracture space and time, as well as act as panels to tell stories, borrowing from art history and contemporary comics. Additionally, I have used polyptychs as a means to juxtapose imagery from my experience living in the US to my time living in southern Japan each year, exploring similarities and differences between the two cultures. Other works are single sheets of paper subdivided into panels on their surface, imitating the appearance of comic pages.
Typically, I collect imagery from drawing on site, taking photos on site, or by other means (screenshots of Google Street View), from which I sketch as a means to engage a subject and put it to memory. From there, I work on composition studies that lead to large-scale works largely executed from memory and imagination, many aspects of each piece are pulled from personal experience and memories. When my ability to visualize subject matter fails, I return to source images as a means to finalize details.
When exhibiting, I install my large-scale work unframed through grommets in the corners of the artwork, putting the artwork and audience in the same immediate space. The works’ large size exaggerates the scale of figures and environments, inspiring an overwhelming mood, through which I hope the memories that initiated the artwork can achieve a similar resonance with viewers.