Statement

Public environs compel my works to become performative. Drawings, coated with a special varnish, accept dry-erase markers; participants are prompted by wall text to "write, draw or scribble their thoughts directly on the work." Viewer graffiti completes the drawing and responses are photographically archived, (see images of Global Hawk and Spellbound). Though drawings are layered with symbolic meaning, viewers can engage them without prerequisite knowledge. Meaning is derived from direct experience. Interactive qualities of the works place an emphasis on discovery and critical thinking, thus generating dialogue rather than unilateral propagandizing. Participatory elements encourage exploration of complex cultural and political issues and imagery

In my drawings, pixilated landscapes act as containers for seemingly disparate elements. Patterning is based on modern digital camouflage taken from military uniforms. Pixilation also alludes to psychological and geographical dislocation experienced while "virtual" images are viewed through mass-media filters. My suburban landscapes are reinterpreted from idyllic representations in advertising and children's stories, which seek to homogenize notions of home. By conflating pastoral images of suburbia with scenes of war, drawings interrogate systems that determine wealth and privilege, while unmasking implications of economic "success" in geopolitical human rights abuses.

Soldiers in my drawings carry standard issue assault rifles and wear contemporary fatigues; they are fully equipped to participate in today's campaigns. Though uniforms and surroundings seem to conjure a foreign battlefield, works investigate domestic concerns. They infiltrate issues and agendas that reach the public in stealthy ways, via advertising icons, cuddly storybook characters and archetypal heroes. On the internet, at newsstands and grocery stores, Winnie-the-Pooh, Strawberry shortcake and G.I. Joe gently nudge these agendas against children's taste buds. They are the proverbial "spoonful of sugar." Value systems are bought and sold along with product; narrative fabric is torn and restitched. Poetry, plot and process bend to the whims of marketability. My versions of popular characters reclaim their content and context, as they suit-up for war, they become insurgents; hidden meanings are revealed and subverted.

In Foster Imposter, the trappings of foreign war invite the viewer to consider domestic policies and possibilities. This drawing reexamines the tragic stories of Dontell Jeffers and JonBenet Ramsey. Dontell was beaten to death in a foster home in Boston in 2005. In Massachusetts, the fate of troubled children is determined by the market. Private agencies that supply foster care compete for government contracts. Unfortunately, due to budgetary restrictions, the state often selects agencies that represent the lowest bidder. Dontell's case has fueled a heated conversation about the relationship between private enterprise and child care. In the JonBenet Ramsey case, many feel there is a link between her participation in opulent beauty pageants and her horrible death. Both tragedies occurred in an environment were moral issues were profoundly impacted by economic forces. Foster Imposter draws a parallel between economic forces that lead to two highly publicized murder cases and underlying interests that have driven American foreign policy in the Middle East.

My drawings pull imagery from many sources; each work employs thirty or more cultural references in their narrative. For example, the gesture of two children in Foster Imposter originates from a quaint Band-Aid advertisement, set in suburban America.  JonBenet flies a remote control Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which has been deployed in many military maneuvers, as recently as the strikes against the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia. In this drawing, the smiling UAV's vapor trail is a rainbow. The children wear Kevlar bulletproof vests, military issue boots and are protected by a shimmering force field, (taken from the pages of Fantastic Four comic books). JonBenet dons a ceremonial US Marine Corp hat; her salute was directed towards judges, during one of her pageants. The Shell sign is a Boston landmark.

My landscapes are layered with signifiers and questions that can be excavated by viewers. Active participants explore and express their own truths amidst unmasked cultural icons. The process implicates both viewer and artist in controversial and pertinent issues of our time, resulting in open-ended exchange.