My artistic practice centers on the premise that figurative work can depict identity by illustrating the multifaceted nature of the human condition, encompassing both its humor and pathos. Through the medium of portraiture, I investigate the complex dynamics of social norms as they intersect with varying social classes. My focus is on the female body, examining its navigation through social spaces and the increasingly permeable boundaries between class and culture in contemporary society.
In my recent work, I depict women whose physicality and environment challenge conventional norms. These figures often exhibit features such as drooping breasts, sunburned arms, and a casual engagement with vices like smoking and drinking cheap beer. Their poses are evocative of classical art historical archetypes, yet they are juxtaposed with elements of working-class iconography. Surrounding them are opulent details—lush plants, velvet drapery, and sophisticated decor—that suggest an ambiguous blend of refinement and mundanity. This deliberate contrast serves to question the dichotomy between perceived sophistication and working-class culture.
As a contemporary female artist, I am particularly invested in the implications of portraying the female form. My work interrogates the historical male gaze and seeks to reclaim the representation of the female nude. By painting women who reflect both my personal experiences and broader societal tensions, I aim to assert a new narrative of female ownership and agency in art.
My background, characterized by a transition from a working-class upbringing in a large family outside Boston to the multicultural and privileged environments I inhabit today, informs my practice. As a first-generation college graduate who later studied Japanese and worked in Japan, my life has been a hybrid of disparate cultural experiences. This duality is reflected in my exploration of “taste” within social class—a theme that addresses the propensity to embrace or reject elements of taste that contradict one's social standing.
In my recent body of work, I juxtapose high and low cultural objects to reveal the hierarchical structures we construct around taste and class. Through this visual discourse, I aim to challenge and deconstruct the cultural hierarchies that dictate our aesthetic preferences and social identities.