My work begins with a fascination with nature and natural processes in all its complexity and richness. My most recent body of work consists of tightly rendered ink drawings on paper, mostly kept to a minimum palette of silver and gold inks on black or white. I draw inspiration from the unpredictable and wild side of nature, combined with a hybrid of images from many sources- botanical illustration, microscopic scientific imagery, the Baroque, Victorian decorative arts, architecture, textile patterns, etc. These diverse elements come together to create an imaginary landscape of fecund abundance. The ambiguity of the forms is important, whether or not they are in the process of becoming, of evolving and multiplying, or beginning to break down and decay. They exist somewhere between the wild irrationality of nature and the rigorous orderliness of lace patterns. I am most interested in them when they go too far, become a bit ostentatious, spiral out of control. I am interested in a kind of hysterical beauty, which becomes blatantly sensuous, silly, unapologetically pretty, boldly decorative, and aggressively feminine. I want them to embody the spirit of a gaudy chandelier dripping with crystals and lights, a blinding, ridiculous beauty that attracts and repels.
2010 Super Natural, Sam Lee Gallery@The Pacific Design Center-Los Angeles, CA
2008 The Secret Garden Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham State University-Framingham, MA
2007 ultra-beauty Locco Ritoro Gallery-Boston, MA
2006 Curious Intimacies The Artists’ Foundation,-Boston, MA
2009 Boston Drawing Project 10th Anniversary Show Carroll & Sons Gallery-Boston, MA
2009 Economies of Scale Miller/Block Gallery-Boston, MA
2009 Backyard Sam Lee Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
2008 Drawn to Detail, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
2008 Overflow, Laconia Lofts Gallery, Boston, MA
2007 Nexus Sam Lee Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
2007 New Art Collective: Emerging Curators Select Montserrat College of Art Gallery-Beverly, MA
2007 Fourth Annual Juried Summer Exhibition Tufts University Art Gallery-Medford, MA
2007 Paper Bombs Jack Hanley Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
2007 Uncommon Denominator Trustman Gallery, Simmons College-Boston, MA
2007 OnLine: Massachusetts Cultural Council Award Recipients: Drawing/ Printmaking/ Artists’ Books Artspace-Maynard, MA
2006 White, Black and Shades of Gray South Shore Arts Center-Cohasset, MA
2006 Repetition: Negotiating the Irrationalities artspace@16 Gallery-Malden, MA
2005 Love Small artspace@16 Gallery-Malden, MA
2005 Landscapes: Found, Imagined and Constructed Visual Arts Gallery-New York, NY
2005 Sexual Gymnasium-MFA Fine Arts Thesis Show Visual Arts Gallery-New York, NY
2009 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant
2009 Boston Art Awards, People’s Choice-Drawing
2008 Boston Art Awards, Critic’s Choice-Drawing
2007 Somerville Arts Council LLC Grant
2007 The Drawing Center Artist’s Registry-New York, NY
2006 Boston Drawing Project Flat Files-Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
2006 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant
2006 St. Botolph Club Foundation Grant-in-Aid Award
1995 Gamblin Painting Award, Massachusetts College of Art
2007 New American Paintings no. 68
2000 New American Paintings no. 26
2005 Master of Fine Arts, Painting
School of Visual Arts-New York, NY
1997 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting
Massachusetts College of Art-Boston, MA