I think of my work as the physical manifestations of questions, not definitive critiques that arise from the deeper implications of popular culture. My interest always turns to the media’s portrayal of women, the manufacture of desire, and conceptions of success in capitalism. I rely heavily on tension within my work, often combining volatile images of women with materials associated with traditional passive conceptions of women such as makeup, rhinestones, oilcloth, or ordinary craft and scrap booking materials. With my three dimensional work, it is my hope that my use of traditional craft and hobby shop materials helps to transcend these objects beyond their original low connotation into a context in which their deeper implications and connections to our identities can be discovered. There is a constant tension, low and high, reality and performed, fascination and disgust, within everything I create all relating to how I define myself as woman and how I view my own success.
The images that compel me are often extremely dramatic and exciting. My choice to make work about reality T.V. and the seductive nature of plastic reflects the current world in which I am making art. I expect to create work that moves everyone, not just those with extensive knowledge of the art world and it’s ambiguous languages. The tension between low feminine materials and the supposed opposing subject matter is intended to make the viewer question preconceived notions both of the agency of the performer mid performance, and the gender constructs that affect us all. I find that all of these confining ideas concerning women, acceptable materials, and intellectualism in art are about as real as a plastic rhinestone.