My current artistic process consists of me attempting to answer two important questions: 1. How can I use my art to work through my emotions? and 2. Where do I fall on the spectrum of fine art and accessible art?
The first question has guided me towards heavy use of personal symbolism. Through using eyeball motifs, outlines of frequently worn jewelry, woven textures, and a myriad of other symbols, I have created a visual language for myself; an alphabet of personal objects and icons, each representing different points in time or various emotions. Most of the works I have created over the past year have acted as journal entries in a diary, or foreign letters that have yet to be translated. The creation of these pieces has acted as a way to force myself to slow down my internal processing. It encourages me to think about what I'm feeling, how that feeling is manifesting in my body or in my outward behavior, and creates a space where I can sit with an emotion and let it take up space in my mind and on the page. The second question is inspired by Bread & Puppet's Cheap Art Manifesto. I fully believe that art should be accessible not only to view and appreciate, but also to create. Conversely, I feel the draw - that so many artists also feel - to have my work hung in galleries and museums, despite these spaces having histories of elitism and exclusion. This internal conflict has driven me to create art that can be shown on a white wall with an artist label or that can be given away for free. I try to keep my materials affordable, and my favorite artistic processes to utilize are the ones that don't require any particularly fancy equipment. I have also been toying around with work that mixes fine art with accessible art, whether that be through juxtaposing two complementary pieces from both sides of the line or incorporating accessible aspects into non-accessible forms of art. |