Artist Statement

In these stagings of memories, I force figures to confront uncomfortable scenarios: guilt from the past, fear of the future, and humor in the present. It is almost impossible not to laugh because the combination of absurdity and tragedy is utterly ridiculous and completely awkward. Humor has the power to immediately attack the heart of a thing. My work seeks to harness this power, creating immediate closeness and camaraderie between viewers and myself. I willingly risk embarrassment, revealing too much, and over-explanation in order to make others feel comfortable enough to do the same.

This series of life-size and small-scale drawings tackles the strange challenge of having a body and navigating how to use it, particularly in emotionally charged interactions with others (friends, family, lovers, strangers). These moments of funny self-awareness have the potential to go south at any point. Lighthearted joking about looking in a mirror wearing too-small jeans from high school can turn to despair in an instant. The joy of driving with the seat pushed too far forward on the way to pick up a pizza from Domino’s (alfredo sauce instead of marinara) can sour into stomachache stress quicker than the stoplight turns from red to green. Giggling after bumping heads when going in for a first kiss can immediately devolve into the fear of being perceived as an amateur in love. I believe that humor rarely exists without something darker (laughing and crying are two sides of the same coin). I use comedy as a shortcut to processing pain, a method of self-soothing, and as a way to understand myself and others better.