artist statement
i am a self taught artist hailing from vibrant downtown tucson arizona. i prefer to depict strong female protagonists in noir-like dystopian universes. my femmes fatale will oftentimes be in the true position of power that has been denied them in a historical context: the daredevil dame taking a shot at the apple on her fella's head, in "our william tell act", (turning the accidental shooting of joan vollmer, william s. burrough's wife, on its ear); the depiction of "eve" (with reference to photos of billie holiday) as a provocative and unapologetic social martyr, with a fig-canopy halo; an empowered "tattooed lady" sideshow performer from the 1930s, who embraced her lifelong differences (heterochromia) and became embellished to further set herself apart, in "curio"; the tough as nails, tattooed punk with a cigarette butt halo, who bears a black eye from a penchant for getting into barroom brawls in "barroom martyr". these women gaze confidently and are not driven to extremes out of desperation but by their own will. in my works, women will experience hard knocks but they are sure to knock back harder.
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after briefly living in italy and seeing so many masterpieces, i resolved to teach myself to paint in oils in an attempt to articulate some of the depth of expression i imbibed there. i am currently happily painting pet portraits as a fun exploration of oil painting techniques.