Postmodernism

My thesis body of work developed from a desire to examine my
nonrepresentational artwork in relation to the concept of entropy - the law of
thermodynamics that measures the gradual, steady disintegration in a system such as our
world. Experimenting with a range of approaches and mediums, I resolved to radically
manipulate the inkjet printing of my digital photography files to introduce chance and
provoke decay. The resulting prints operate as an orchestrated chaos alluding to
environmental decline and collapse, and by extension, potential social degeneration. My
art reflects my perceptions of our times as well as adds to the problem. I continue to
produce waste through the consumption of materials. I contaminate through inks. I add to
landfills with failures. My artwork points out the inevitable end.

The intent of this thesis is to focus on evocative objects to explore what is lost in the transition from tangible to digital and how personal meaning is altered by digitalization. "We are witnessing the sudden dematerialization of our arts and entertainment, their transfer from unique artifacts to universal on-demand screen availability."1 As we replace objects like photographs, books and music CDs with intangible digital versions, social and physical experiences get reconfigured. With more time being spent on-line, there is a growing emphasis on exchanging digital content and the network of self-projections shared virtually. As we continue towards an increasing digital environment, understanding emerging socio-cultural practices can provide insight into new directions for graphic design.

anekdota is an exploration of the form of short short fiction. The exploration contains original works of fiction as short as five words and as long as twelve-hundred words. The exploration seeks new forms for fiction by frustrating and manipulating our traditional sense of story structure. At times, the exploration also investigates a form of conceptual art known as "found language" whereby original material is created by transforming, reframing, and collaging previously published material. anekdota translates from the Greek as "unpublished things."

Flotsam is a collection of writing. Flotsam examines divisions of the self. Flotsam is made of fiction, nonfiction, and visual representations of both. Flotsam is made of the truth. Flotsam is made of lies. Flotsam is pretty. Flotsam is a beast.

Interested in nurturing beauty, I create paintings that reference life processes through layers of struggle, discovery, recovery and generation. Employing a metaphor of the garden, my paintings can be seen as spaces where I determine what grows, stays, is mulched, or weeded out. I seek a balance between coexisting desires of restraint and control and extravagance with a sense of coming unbound. I emphasize the painting field as a whole, while also paying deep attention to the minute, inviting the viewer to discover complex worlds at different scales within each environment I create. My intimate, domesticated painted environments offer the viewer the possibility to experience the spaces I find beautiful and to add to the conversation of where beauty resides today in contemporary art.