BFA, Studio Art (Painting & Drawing)

Artist Statement

This series explores the intersections where “High Art” meets “Low Art” and where “Cheap” meets “Expensive”. At the same time the exploration of media allows the work to contemplate the materiality of painting. In order to create work living within these intersec- tions, I am utilizing materials more common to a low-end Fashion house than an Artist’s Studio, with a visual language reminiscent of Minimalist Abstraction. By using a palette of fluorescents, holographics, metallics and black, with materials like spandex, glitter, and rhinestones in place  of and alongside acrylic paint within the confines of a traditional picture plane; it allows the material to be elevated while not asking the piece to take itself too seriously. Using these fashion materials in the same way as I would paint, draws attention to the quality and movement of brush stokes while echoing the materiality of paint. By referencing a visual language like Abstract Minimalism, the materials are given the opportunity to explore what it is to paint without being asked to be anything other than themselves. The material and the visual language work together to explore; what it is to paint, what it means to be “Cheap”; what it means to be considered “High Art”, and can something be “Cheap” while still having “High Art”.