This page contains a selection of recent works from my larger portfolio.
Many of these and other works are for sale, and I am available for commissions. Please contact me for details.
Many of these and other works are for sale, and I am available for commissions. Please contact me for details.
PORTHOLES (2019-2021)
gouache and graphite on paper, 6" diameter
gouache and graphite on paper, 6" diameter
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TOWARD WHAT ISN'T THERE (2013)
Gallery Four, Baltimore MD
house paint on wall, dimensions variable
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1984-Present (ongoing) hand bound books Our world is going paperless – much of our correspondence and records, from monthly bills to medical history, are quickly becoming digital. The benefits of this shift are obvious, but the risks to the personal privacy and agency of whomever that information refers to are a bit more subtle and unsettling. Accidents happen and information is lost, as happened in Boston in 2011 when a lawyer accidentally left a hard drive containing digital copies of over one hundred different individuals’ medical histories on a commuter train. Those one hundred-plus people lost control over their privacy and access to this information in that moment. With all of our medical records turning from reams of paper into portable digital files, the potential for stories like this to increase is huge. If my information is going to be put in this very vulnerable format very soon and I may not be able to say who sees it, I am using this project to say at least I was the first to make it public. The project is titled “1984-Present,” as it includes my records from the day I was born up through my most recent doctor’s visit, and I will continue to publish new volumes as my personal records grow. Each edition of these volumes is hand pressed, and the covers are stamped one-by-one in my studio to keep these books truly self-published.         |
IMPOSSIBLE SPACES (2009-2019)
house paint and gouache on paper, 22" x 17"
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CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH (2016) graphite on paper, 4"x 8" When I transitioned, I never intended to change the gender marker on my birth certificate. For me, the "F" on that document was as much a part of my history as the "M" on my driver license and my passport is part of my present. I felt no need to reconcile the two until the 2016 election. Trump's election ushered in an era of regression for transgender civil rights (a complete list of the offenses against transgender people can be found at Transequality.org). Though I am in a remarkably privileged position relative to many of my trans sisters and brothers, I grew afraid that the discrepancy between the gender marker on these documents would lead to charges of fraud, travel restrictions, or a denial of services at some crucial juncture. Thus, I decided to compromise the sense of completeness that my mismatched documents in order to protect myself from whatever threats might be looming. This drawing reflects the emotional tenor of this experience as well as the mutability of my experience. I use mutability here both to describe the changing nature of my gendered experience and the ability that regulatory structures have to "mute" part of my past and present identity.  PAINTSTALLATIONS (2008-2010)
house paint on wall, 6' in height These painted installations, or "paintstallations" are the first works developed directly on the wall in 2009. Rooted very strongly in traditional painting, the geometry of each suggests structural space, progression of planes across a surface, and chromatic dictation of shape on a flat surface. The use of these approaches directly on the wall makes the work a part of the viewers’ lived environment, and brings matters of temporality and ambiguous objecthood into the work. These painted installations cannot be moved from one space to another, so each piece both lives forever and is continually dying. Even when they are deinstalled and painted over, they are not removed, only hidden by a new layer of paint. They stay married to the surfaces they rest upon, making each incarnation a territorial declaration of ownership over the surfaces on which the works are installed, resisting displacement claiming space with a steadfast refusal to be relocated. Alternatively, our ability to see each piece dies at the end of its installation and must be reborn, re- installed to be seen again in the world. With continual reincarnation, no two installations are ever identical, and the work shifts each time it is reinstalled, adapting to the specifics of the new architectural environment.   FABRIC PAINTINGS (2007-2008) mixed media on fabric, (1) 36" wide (2) 12" wide |
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