Growing up in a media-saturated world, enraptured by newfound ways of disseminating propaganda through digital representation and mainstream media has allowed us to enter a more expansive dialogue regarding the delineation of feminine figures involved in pop culture. While referencing the historical function of figurative oil paintings, this body of work investigates the human obsession with “pop icons” and roles observed through the virtual world. Dealing with the escalating magnitude of digital imagery, the in-between of classically real-world figuration, and the manipulation of virtually sourced imagery asserts the complexity of the duality of humanity and human obsession.
My paintings are made in a photo-realistic style, using borrowed film imagery as well as images created by photographing scenes and people from my daily life. This group of selective imagery and subject choice display the power of intimacy, identity, authentic vs adapted self, and the complexity of feminine representation. My style of realism and mark making are a combination of representational and light glazing, whilst creating a quality that refers to the sheer digital nature of contemporary snapshots. The resulting paintings are uncanny portraits that relate my perspective of girlhood.
The figures themselves challenge the precedent of a certain type of people and narrative deemed worthy and important enough to be depicted and preserved within a painting. Subjects discussing femininity, sexual politics, irony, and power relations unfasten a collective nostalgia stemming from the embracement of hyper-feminine qualities and representations. Given the facility of preservation within the bounds of painterly subjectification, this work links the representation of the revolt against the resistance of the hyper-feminine while embracing self-expression, acceptance, and sexuality. By including sympathetic satire in some of my paintings, I incorporate the positive and fun demeanor that exists in such gender roles while also questioning the beauty standards withheld in these idealistic figures.
