Artist Statement

To my mind, visual beauty is a transcendent force which moves and intoxicates all of the senses. It holds, nurtures and calms as it serves as a connective tissue between myself and the surrounding world. True beauty is easily distinguished from the hollow, lifeless and superficial trappings of cheap thrills and vanity. It moves us when it announces itself and inspires us when it is discovered. It is at times irrational wild and at others measurable and collected. It is an essential component of love, demanding the surrender of our hearts and the devotion of our intellect. Its selfless gift, is divine connection.

The human portrait serves as a portal to our common qualities; the study of a resting gaze a reflection of our common vulnerabilities, our varied desires and our raison d'être. The ubiquity of modern self portraits or "selfies" on the internet hides and almost betrays a fundamental truth in their composition; that the evolution of visual media from simple drawings, to paintings, to photographs begins in the eye of the creator. Throughout antiquity and across cultures, compositions were placed in circular forms, perhaps suggesting this idea. Presently, with selfies, we are at a time where the initial viewer and creator are one and the same within the timeframe of just a second. Whatever image of ones self someone works to manufacture, there is little to no control over it once it is published on the internet. The question of why we often feel compelled to tell our story through such means beckons. By repurposing these images the former meaning, which is mostly unknown even to myself, is obscured, and new life is given, a new story continued.

The Tondo series explores the circleʼs function not only as a window, but also as a barrier between the viewer and what portion of an intimate space remains hidden to them, leaving most of the story up to the imagination.