Artist Statement

It can be argued that the ability to communicate is the most profound human trait and one that sets us apart from every other species on the planet. Though there are many species that exhibit this skill, at times quite remarkably, none contain the litany of nuance and vast diversity when compared to the human ability to convey ideas. From a very young age I have taken care when it came to language and expressing myself verbally; simile and metaphor becoming my two greatest tools, at times to a fault, in my effort to ensure what I wanted to express is what would be understood. After a time I came to realize this discipline tied directly into how I experienced the world; emotion conjuring shape, numbers taking on personalities, a taste becoming a color, etc., more a cultivated dialog of both emotional and  physical responses steeped in the empathy I held toward my listener and the personal attributions assigned to my words. It wasn't until I was firmly into my adulthood that learned, quite incidentally , about synesthesia and was at that point I found not only I was not alone with this seemingly odd personal quirk, but had the freedom to  incorporate it as a tool.

In my work I start with an emotion, a feeling, usually rooted in or tied to a life experience. This does not always have to spring from the sublime or be the derivative of a life changing event, but it always something that I have found for whatever reason memorable. Given this, it is quite natural that I would incorporate these synesthetic attributes while I translate emotion, whether it be joyful or melancholy, whimsical or solemn, into the shapes that already resonate with me. Some of my work might be seen as abstract (for which I take no offence, especially if the piece evokes a feeling or reaction), however the definition it is not entirely accurate when coupled with intent. Presenting shapes freed from the representational is not how I approach a piece, rather a transcribing of the representational into a language of affect that exists for me. In these works, I typically convey a sense of motion as a sort of physical metaphor to tie together cognition with muscle memory to share with the viewer a bit of this synesthetic experience.  Similarly, I approach a representational piece with the desire to provide the viewer with an opportunity to empathize, reflect on their own experience, or travel back to a simple place through a fond memory otherwise tucked away by time.