Mythologies originate in the mundane and are granted narrative power through repetition, re-imagination, and devotion. While being untrue, they can be deeply powerful tools for communication. We value and propagate the stories which reinforce our beliefs and biases and form a boundary to separate acceptable narratives from more bizarre subjects. In my artwork, I attempt to chip away at this boundary and create unconventional interactions between normality and surrealism.
My work prods at the formality of religion, showing how a religious myth can develop from a secular occurrence, or using religious signifiers to tell a secular story. I use demons as a mythic trope to represent a sense of defiant chaos. Across religions and cultures, demons are reflections of cultural sins and vices, and their nefariousness can range from harmless mischief to deadly sins. I use their moral range to create my set of demons: whimsical embodiments of human malice, greed, impulse, and chaos. By choosing to represent these human traits using animals and monsters, I can detach them from reality and examine them in a mythic light. These traits are as bestial and temperamental as the creatures who embody them. My artwork examines the narrative structures of myths. Reed Leg is an experimental daily comic, created over almost two years. This work is an amalgamation of tropes and archetypes and uses humor to investigate toxic masculinity, ego, and violence. The lack of a conclusion and the expansive network of characters and stories echo my commitment to disrupting narrative norms. As I watched the story develop day by day, I was reminded that narratives are not structures set in stone, but living, breathing organisms, adapting, shifting, embracing, and crashing in upon themselves.
What is your primary medium?
I mainly utilized digital art throughout my artistic career at Davidson, however, recently I have been engrossed by pen and ink as a medium.
What was the inspiration for your show?
The children’s books and fables I was raised on led to my obsession with narratives. As I progress as an artist, I am enabled to examine these narrative structures critically. This, combined with my religious upbringing, helps me examine how mythologies are defined and function in society. I found the interplay between myths and humans to be uniquely inspiring. Mythological stories rely on humans to create and modify them, and humans rely on their mythologies to affirm their conscientious behavior and provide answers to existential questions.
What does the title of your show mean?
“Apocrypha” refers to a set of biblical texts that were rejected by the church as illegitimate sources. Their esoteric, specified, and often bizarre nature caused them to be discredited and not considered sacred texts. The existence and rejection of these Apocryphal texts prod at the question: who determines the worth of a myth? By what metric are stories legitimized, and what makes certain stories worthy of attention and devotion?
What do you feel is the most significant piece in the exhibition and why? What is your favorite piece and why?
The most significant piece in the exhibition to me is The Creation of Myth. This work encapsulates the primary components of the themes of myth and human nature and examines them compellingly and concisely. My favorite piece is family bonfire. This piece is a traditional pen and ink work, inspired by the intricate line work of Edward Gorey and Sandow Birk. My pen and ink artwork diverges from the forgiving medium of digital art that I had practiced for a long time and adds a sense of urgency and pressure that I welcome as an artist. family bonfire was a very process-oriented piece, and it was satisfying to watch the narrative develop as the page filled up.
How will art and the process of making continue to play a role in your life after graduation?
I plan on continuing to pursue art-making in a professional capacity. I will take a year following graduation to develop a portfolio and plan to go for an MFA, wherein my art can further develop and diversify.
View the Virtual Tour.
View the Artist Talk.