MASKED

Masks give permission to assume an alternate persona, allowing one to push the boundaries of their personality and eliminating repression  and social restraints.  By wearing masks, I become a character and  provoke dormant aspects of my identity.  As I spend time analyzing, drawing, and observing a character, role-playing and fantasy can transform into reality; 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.