MASKED

Masks give permission to assume a different identity, allowing one to push the boundaries of their personality, eliminating limitations, repression, and social restraint.

I acknowledge and embrace the absurdity of my artistic ritual in these drawings.  For each piece, I put on a children’s mask and attempt to become the animal.  I take Myspace style glamour shots of myself, naked except for the mask, alone in my room. By wearing masks, I become a character, creating a superficial persona.  As I spend time analyzing, drawing, and observing this character, role-playing and fantasy can transform into reality and the animalistic persona can become part of my identity.

The "Masked" series uses posing, nudity and stylization to investigate models of beauty, femininity, elegance and tropes of portraiture.  I ascribe and indulge in the stereotype of the artist as spectacle, oddity and celebrity.  In essence, I am selling myself, and seducing the viewer with my character and my sexuality.

In spite of what many deem as the “Post-Skill Era”, a time where craftsmanship is a detriment, I strive to challenge myself with new visual problems in order to hone my drawing ability and technique. I create my work by applying thin layers of powdered graphite to paper with a dry brush. Illusion dissolves into brushwork and the honesty of the material.