Many artists create self-portraits as a search for self-identity.  The discoveries of self can often inform their work in relation to medium, subject, and concept.  As I develop my work, self-portraits have allowed me to gain self-awareness and acceptance of my physical form.

 

        Drawing is the most direct method I can use to depict images of the body.  I use charcoal as a tool to create velvety flesh, etched into paper in black and white. The skin becomes part of the support on which it is drawn.  Drawing also acts as a recording of every mark, every mistake, and every note throughout the process.  Serving as a history of the work and a map of its creation, these marks allow the viewer to accompany me in my thought process.  In drawing, I expose everything to the viewer. Nothing is hidden, and I open my mind to the viewer as I reveal my own body as my subject.

 

        While much of my work continues to stretch my own comfort levels with my body, I am ultimately still in control of the image presented to the viewer.  In reaction, I create large drawings of other people that push the comfort levels of those who are not in control of anyone or any imagery.  By asking individuals to literally dive into a pile of naked bodies, I ask them to trust both the other models and me.  A bond is formed between these strangers while their skin is pressed against each other, and again between them and me as I react to their bodies with the artwork.  They both acknowledge and dismiss each other’s nudity.  It is my goal to record this tension between awkwardness and comfort-ability in drawings that stretch far beyond figure studies into stimulating, sensual, powerful objects.