Thesis

My Thesis and Artist Statement:
My thesis is an exploration of human interaction and communication or the lack there of.  In that, I created “Fragments”.  By fragments, I mean portions of someone’s personality that display their intended identity.  Could you ever really know everything about a person?  What about even in your most intimate relationships?  They provide only what they want you to see or maybe what they only know how to express.  This idea of segmented communication and personal identities has formed the desire to create a series of “fragmented” portraits of some of my closest friends and recent new acquaintances.

My purpose and personal goal is to conceptually communicate pieces of my subject’s personality in one cohesive community of people by combining a conceptual thought process and technical skills of problem solving and craftsmanship.  The content of my work is expressed in how the paintings are executed.  Each painted portrait provides only pieces of one’s personality that I’ve gained over time; whereas, the pen and ink portraits are shown as new acquaintances or the beginning stages of a relationship.  This approach represents how in one’s mind we see the basic outline of a person at first and then over time we accumulate images and experiences that we associate with that individual.

The process of research, interviews and photographs of my subjects allowed me to form images, patterns, textures, and color for each individual.  Then after manipulating the photographs in Photoshop, I create a composition.  Once completed, I gather all my information and execute the portrait using materials like oil, acrylic, gouache, tissue paper, pen and ink, or type.

Through this technique and research, I learned how to conceptualize portraiture not only by creating individual aesthetics for each subject, but also by compiling them together to create one cohesive composition.  This creates the sense of personal individuality within us all, yet we are all a part of a collective community.