My thesis is focused on the film trope, Final Girls, the last girls standing at the end of slasher films, and also the last person who was witness to the horror and who can tell the story. In her, the final girl, resides the tale, so she is a powerful link to the future because she keeps the history alive. I was interested in how this idea of the last one standing is repeatedly repackaged and sold to consumers. I wanted to intervene and remove them from their original context while suggesting new possibilities that are more contemporary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvLpbHKV1_8

Talking to my dad and his partner in the car, they wanted individual descriptions with thoughts about each piece, because each one is a different story. My work is my share of life, which is not easily wrapped in a theme. Talking to peers about pieces, they have the same viewpoint on wanting to talk about individuals rather than them as a movement. I am not one to ignore my public, and so my statement is a brief dive into each piece. I encourage you to go deeper, I am merely opening the floor, and certainly there is more than meets the eye.

1. New York Story
The title comes from a Psychic TV song I love. In this piece I fully embraced the wonk, choreographing with its organic funk. It is my kitchen, and even though it is constructed of modern geometries everything is decaying, dirty, and beautiful. It is constructed of a red splatter painted board, on which I drew the scene with neon pastels. On top of the thick chunks of pastels I oil painted, sometimes carving in to slide on the board and sometimes glossing over it. I want everything to change as you look at it, with initial perceptions at a distance becoming much more complicated on inspection. To feel the objects and colors pulling and pushing each other and creating gravity and space with their interaction. The two characters are depicted in different styles, both requiring their own analysis and reference to the surroundings as well as their relationship to the viewer. There are no straight lines, most edges overlap or open onto what was underneath, the bodies are composed of pieces, the treatment is not uniform, the surface is extremely modulated, all things you can feel once you start investigating. The red board underneath is shiny and adds a reflective pattern to the piece from different angles. The names and meanings of the colors are allocated to objects of their mental and anatomical significance. Everything is painted so it can be felt with the mind. This is a loaded space, literally built by people with specific goals in mind. I want to encourage reading, questioning, and understanding of the world to move forward smarter with more information. Feel free to share what you want, because getting it might change your mind.

2. Hats on our Heads
This is a painting of my friend and ex-girlfriend. The title comes from a trip we took to brooklyn bridge city park when the hats were getting blown off our heads. She agreed to sit and we’d do work and talk while I painted. I did the blankets separately, both to save sitting time and ideologically I thought it would be stronger for them to be different from life. It was exciting to paint someone I am so close with from life, and a very different experience from the models I am accustomed to in life study classes. This painting’s accumulation of strange, almost collage, elements as I grew to enjoy certain deformations underpins a narrative of relationships.

3. Alison’s Flower
Painted as a Christmas gift for my mom, who loves sunflowers and painted them. I owe
my art education to her and because she loves paintings I could think of no better gift. It had been a long time since working from life, and because she likes pastels and whites I wanted to give the impression of a white background while still adding depth and color.

4. The Last Laugh
This painting is about trying until it breaks. After so many attempts and much hard work
it's important to know when to give up the ghost and just laugh and move on. I wanted to give the viewer relief.

5. Weeks Roses
Centering on individuals in a fluid environment, each flower is its own painting where depth is put into focus. The nearer ones are concrete and reflections of the stars are visible, while the distance is eaten by haze and anatomical color adjustment. It is an ode to all the individuals I love in our mostly dark environment.


6. Sex Machine
This painting is inspired by seeing my friend in a chair on their phone over the summer.
Because I have had issues with phones and changes in our 21st century lives I was upset. I really wanted to be happy though to see them enjoying themselves, and not desire attention from them or for them to do what I want. So I made a painting about someone content doing what they want, letting the material and me do what we want. I hope that by being content with myself and my work I can spread contentment to others and we can all be happy with our weird selves, not needing anyone to do anything for us.

7. The Rest
You’re on your own now, I’m confident you can make your own connections and
interests. I’ve supplied some stimulating titles for kicks. I love you strangers, so get on with it!

Growing up, I was under the care of my grandparents for most of my childhood. This led to me spending a lot of time in the garden with them. Helping them plant rows and rows of red leaf lettuce, Korean chili peppers, perilla leaves, cucumbers, and pumpkins. My grandfather would build birdhouses and fences to separate the crops, while my grandmother would water the garden and clean up any unwanted weeds. I, on the other hand, would occasionally help them maintain their garden, but mostly capture butterflies, chase praying mantis’, and dig up patches of dirt to find hidden sea glass. I would always be excited for a new day of finding new creatures that lingered in our garden and beneath the soil.
My work builds on these memories of spending time with my grandparents and nature. Exposure to the colors our garden produced is crucial to the way I perceive the world around me.