Often we attempt to mask our difficulties to avoid them, only fooling ourselves into cultivating destructive states of mind. I address this phenomenon in my paintings and find that humor and absurdity are effective approaches, diluting painful subject matters just enough for them to elude the realm of the unacceptable. My work questions whether the fight for personal progress is always beneficial, and challenges the hope that we can escape self-sabotaging mental constructs. I create from a sense of imbalance, ridiculousness, and exasperation, born from an unceasing internal conflict.

Making these pieces allowed me to exercise a rawer creative process. The act of painting became the accumulation of what I call “ghost layers,” which partially camouflage records of my identity, such as journal entries and gestural marks. At the same time, I draw from popular culture and use color, garments, and bodily gestures to represent psychological states. Instead of offering a solution, I am trying to come to terms with the never-ending rivalry between empathy and self-demand, forgiveness and guilt, acceptance and remorse. It is funny, after all, attempting to make sense of irrepressible contradictions.