Artist Statement

 

I have always had a love of the darkroom process. The hands-on aspect of working with the film, paper, and chemicals is fascinating to me.  Part of me will always feel there is magic involved in the creation of an image from light.  The time, effort, and personal skill involved in creating a traditional silver gelatin print adds to the beauty and artistry of a work for me. My current body of work has all been created in the darkroom.  I feel that traditional wet darkroom work is important to my creative process. I love the look of a silver print on fiber-based paper, which is one of the reasons I choose to use it for my pieces.  I double expose the paper to manipulate my images, thus creating an end result with which I can be happy.

I use the traditional idea of Grotesque, a combination of human with non-human elements, for my inspiration. I have been drawn to grotesques in other artists work for years and wanted to find a way to make them my own.  The images are printed larger than life and layers of texture are laid on top of them to distort the face.  I believe that printing the faces at a larger scale will add intimacy for the viewer.  Personal space is usually an issue in real life, but with my work the viewer is brought into close proximity with another person’s image.

Maintaining the classic idea of the Grotesque, I want my images to convey a range of feelings.  Each image is different and has a personality all its own.  I try to have a mix of: light, funny, disturbing, twisted, gruesome, dreamy, mystical, or even confusing images.  I consider a piece to be successful if it evokes a reaction from the viewer.  It is important that a connection exists between the viewer and my work.  I find grotesques very unique because of the range of reactions they seem to evoke.  I create these images to encourage people to think, to wonder and maybe even to dream, but mostly I create them for myself. 

 
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