February 27 - March 2, 2019
Opening Reception March 1, 6-8pm
Artist Statement
My artistic practice begins with the premise that the space an object or person operates within has a significant influence on their identity. By walking, drawing, painting, and collecting objects in the vicinity of my body I am investigating the systems that determine the characteristics of these constructed spaces. Each work is a physical, a visual or a lexical conclusion to reveal the unacknowledged standards, attitudes, and processes that determine how the spaces that contextualize our bodies are built.
By using ubiquitous, often unnoticed materials like concrete, dust, trash, and household items mixed with more traditional art materials, I highlight the similar molds by which private and public spaces are constructed. I use variation, chance, decay and lack of order to point out the limits of my control as a young black artist and emphasize the viewer’s role in creating meaning. Making and defining art is the same process of ordering as keeping a home, planning a city, and maintaining a nation. As the boarders expand, and control expands from private to public space, the composition and density of the corpus changes. Defining a space eventually means defining its occupants.