Imaginary Order | Powdered Pigment on Canvas | 48" x 44" | 2014

Artist Statement: Many people are not willing to divorce the importance of individuality attached to a face, figure, or body. I find it curious that viewers are invested in the exact “who-ness” of a representation. Social media is an example of how this value has manifested. Pictures meant to act as visual autobiographical material disseminate rapidly. The phenomenal body is experienced, recognized, and envisioned through time, gender, and age, among other various characteristics. In this line of investigation, identity as an absolute state is questioned by merging multiple faces of different people together to create one entity. In some paintings, one person is presented as a composite of multiple moments in time that blur together to suggest that time acts against a fixed identity. An ambiguous sense of likeness is presented instead of specific regard for uniqueness of a human subject to contrast with the plight to construct a resolute image of self. Struggle that inevitably entails discomfort is apparent in both habits of mind and bodily sensation. These pluralistic representations exist through familiar mechanisms and tropes of portraiture yet contradict some key aspects of the tradition within a broad historical context.