In my work I explore and challenge our preconceived rigid understanding of time. I map the friction between society’s strict measurement of time and the idea of another way of being. The accepted concept of time demands progress, productivity, and efficiency. I question what order is and how its meaning can alter depending on who defines it. If entropy is a measure of disorder and time is a measure of change, then “chaos” is an arrangement we refuse to make sense of, and “forward progress” is a trap designed to make us sacrifice the present moment for a future that does not yet exist.
In my studio, I build up and remove. Paintings develop in layers; I use sgraffito to scrape and obscure images and written words. My surface becomes a physical record of decisions and concealments. Within it, you’ll find an organized chaos of thickly applied paint held together by texture, brushstroke, and written word. By censoring specific words within sentences, I generate frustration and reflection by forcing my viewers to fill in the blank. I use symbols of tracking—tally marks, grids, and numbers—to explore human observation; how do these omnipresent systems offer us a tangible sense of order while simultaneously creating an illusion of control?
Time is not emotionally neutral. It is grief and sorrow, beauty and love. When time becomes formalized into clocks, calendars, and daylight savings, we trade the vividness of raw experience for efficiency. How does our perception of time shape our understanding of who we should be and how we should live our lives and what does it mean to be in the present moment?