2021-2022
Drawing on nature, science, and the notion of plural futures, my paintings deal with “weird” ecologies. An imagined narrative gradually emerges in this series, but with a fractured protagonist. Insects, frogs, plants, and birds appear as formal shapes, recurring motifs, and symbols of endurance. So does humor, demonstrating that it can co-exist, even in the most existential moments—a playful nod to midwestern surrealists, such as Sylvia Fein, John Wilde, and Gertrude Abercrombie.
2020
This body of work derives from being forced to work from home at the start of the pandemic. The effect of this was to push my work in a more self-referential direction. Like it did for many people, Covid 19 totally upended my world, bringing with it a sense of intense isolation. I could no longer get to my studio in Queens by subway. I was forced to work at my dining room table. As the social fabric of my world seemed to collapse around me, I was left with the basics, namely the clothes I wore every day: plaid shirt, jeans, running shoes, and the bandanna I often kept in my pocket. Nature, which has always been my solace, also receded, as did my sense of the human body. The series began with a clump of clothes, but gradually a more active narrative emerged, but with a disembodied protagonist. Insects, frogs, plants, birds and elements of nature returned as recurring motifs—as symbols of endurance—during this period of extreme vulnerability. So did humor, or at least some semblance of it, demonstrating that it can co-exist, even in the most existential moments.
“Can a weirdly re-enchanted yet sharply critical realism help us see new ways of exploring plural natures and plural futures, whilst compelling us to think deeply about the struggles that shape the places that we inhabit and the histories, forces, and scales that they enmesh? Can it help us to face the strangeness and alienation in contemporary society, opening up not only an expanded sense of earthly kinship and relationality, but also an expanded sense of possibilities that the material cosmos might contain?” —Amber Huff and Adrian Nel, Weird Ecologies, www.centre.org/blog 12/16/20
2018
This body of work is a fictional narrative of myself, and a life-sized frog. The frog is my personal avatar. An avatar is a diety-like entity connected to the natural world. The frog represents all that is vulnerable in nature. I represent everyday experiences between myself and my avatar, the frog. The narrative suggests a psychological and metaphysical connection between the two entities. Humor, contemplation, engagement with social media, eating, drinking, etc. are represented as life events for the pair. My intention is for the viewer to see the everyday in a new and fresh manner. Like allegory, from fairy tales to Bruegel, using animals and/or creature forms as stand-ins for people is not something new but can add a deeper level of contemplation to what we perceive.
2019/2017/2016
In Nancy Mladenoff’s new series, “A Poke in the Eye,” women are captured in a series of poses or situations reminiscent of photographic snapshots. Many relate to the outdoors: fishing and boating, skiing and golfing, mowing the lawn and grilling in the backyard. Others show women inside: dancing together or smoking cigarettes, or standing alone in front of four empty chairs. Some with animals become more fantastical: a woman and a black bear appear together in a swimming pool, another shares a sandwich with a parakeet, while a young girl with chopped bangs holds a pet tiger that stares directly at the viewer. Yet, while there is a mundane, even casual quality to the composition of the imagery, these small-scale paintings resonate with a raw primitive power through the artist’s juxtaposition of bold, jarring, pop colors and the intricate play between figuration and abstraction. What initially appears loose and free-form is upon closer inspection revealed to be complex and abstract, the result of blocks of color used in the underpainting. The colors of many of the figures flow defiantly outside the line that defines them. Strangely, and somewhat magically, they appear to glow, as if illuminated from within.
2015/2014
My studio practice over the past several years centers on a personal history of American women in such areas as music, war, science, dance, sports, and nature. Prior to this project, I explored ideas that dealt with natural history, climate change, geography and the history of landscape painting in America. The two projects are not unrelated, as they combine to interrogate the notion of gendered representations in American culture.
The current project concentrates primarily on contemporary “Girl Bands”. In order to add images of women to our collective visual culture, I am focusing on contemporary popular music created by women whose music I am interested in. I will be going to SXSW in Austin this March to attend the minority of bands by women and take photos of their performances and use them to make paintings of their performances. I want the paintings to be gestural and suggestive of the performative activity that they represent.
2013/2014
My studio practice over the past several years centers on a personal history of American women in such areas as music, war, science, dance, sports, and nature. Prior to this project, I explored ideas that dealt with natural history, climate change, geography and the history of landscape painting in America. The two projects are not unrelated, as they combine to interrogate the notion of gendered representations in American culture.
The current project is a metaphorical classification of female mentors that attempts to explore our collective visual culture by examining how we see, think and imagine ourselves. Notions of the anti-heroic in much of contemporary painting have very little relevance for women because we have limited or no history of the heroic in our past. Through this new body of work, I seek to learn about the history and lives of American women who were driven to make significant accomplishments beyond wife and mother, and against a considerable non-supportive culture. The paintings and works on paper are not merely documentary representations, but a creative re-imagining of past history in order to reshape it.