Rigidity

Here are the “basement” collection of prints I forgot about from this semester.

The fact that textile patterns are transcribed onto rigid copper plates is a comment on the confined expectations of consumer behavior. Something “beautiful” like these patterns may have once been become almost sad within their new home on a copper plate. The second pairing of images were made on linoblocks. The material I carved on, in itself, is synthetic and not very valuable. The I ❤ NY symbol and the repetitive shirt folding instructions are familiar to suburbanites and again grossly repetitive. Paired next to the “pretty” and intricate fabric patterns, I hope that the entirety of the collection reflects a confined and rigid attitude towards suburban fashion culture about suburban fashion culture.

Bookends

Artist Statement

I’m interested in exploring the idea of consumerism and its affect on mass identity through looking at suburbia and fashion. Not only does the public choose an outward (public) mass produced identity through fashion, but even within homes, the most private of places, mass produced goods are still prevalent. The strangeness of a prescribed identity, often adopted by the public, is a contradiction to the very idea of identity as a personal and unique entity. Trends and repetitive behavior of the masses within the home and fashion choices are absurdities to me and I want to help expose them through my body of artwork.

5 Paintings of Repetition through Consumerism

The following are recent oil paintings I did in order to move from the pure fashion drawings from my previous collection of 20 into more of a narrative about repetition in daily life. Here is the pattern on a scarf, the fashionable hairdo shared by many, the singularity of being recognized on a crowded sidewalk, the shapes people make in crowds (here awaiting a fashion show), and the monotony but also sentimentality of a suburb.