My paintings seek to make visible the relationships between physical reality and the mind. Through analysis of my own compulsions for perfection and order, and research into mental health, including the psychology of hoarding and OCD, I seek a better understanding of the relationships between mind and matter and its presence in the world around us.
I am compulsive. I like everything in my home and studio to be precisely organized. If an object is moved, even a quarter of an inch, I will notice it, and promptly move the object back into its ‘correct’ position. Analysis of my own obsessive compulsive behaviors was the catalyst that launched my investigation into the psychological relationships between our minds and the objects in the world around us.
Over the last four years, I have not only researched the psychology of hoarding, OCD and mental health, but gone into the homes of people affected by these conditions. My interviews with those individuals, as well as the thousands of photographs I take while visiting their spaces, have become integral parts of my artistic process. By creating artworks based on the spaces of these individuals, I have come to see our physical surroundings as a manifestation of the psyche. My paintings are more than representations of people’s possessions, they are portraits of their minds.
My practice is not only informed by my immersion into the lives and homes of those affected by hoarding disorder or OCD, but also by a theoretical foundation that provides context for understanding their experiences. In addition to scholarly research, over the years I have spoken with academics, psychologists, theologians, physicists, home organizers, doctors, and outpatients at a mental health clinic.
For example, while in residence at The Ragdale Foundation, I met with Professor David Uttal at Northwestern University to learn more about his research into spatial relations and symbolic representation. Better understanding the ways in which we read symbols and models helped me determine the ways in which I simplified, constructed and installed my ‘OCD Diagram’ paintings. Although my OCD and OCD Diagram paintings both explore compulsions in pursuit of perfect order and represent the idealized state sought after by the minds of those affected by organizational OCD. These three-dimensional works delve deeper into the compulsion for creating perfection and order within our physical surroundings. Recalling Sol LeWitt’s use of instructions for the “creation” of his wall paintings and drawings, these paintings are accompanied by a blueprint for installation. These diagrams not only specify the parameters of a rectangle to be painted on the wall using particular mass-produced house paint colors such as Benjamin Moore, they also dictate the precise locations of the oil paintings to be hung within that rectangle.
Engage with concepts of spatial relations, phenomenology, minimalism, constrctvism, troupe l’oeil, etc.
My Hoard series is based on my visits with those affected by hoarding disorder. Although these paintings are depictions of real environments, I stylistically transform these chaotic scenes into formal and orderly still-lifes.
This past year, I attended a professional conference regarding the psychological origins and therapies for hoarding. The conference gave me the opportunity to speak one-on-one with psychologists, therapists, and academics working in the field as well as a local task force team. Some presented studies that discussed the causes of hoarding disorder, including childhood trauma, genetics, and anxiety. Other information included the specific types of hoarding, how hoarding affects a community at large, and therapeutic approaches. What I learned has influenced the way that I see these environments, as I consider the ways the subconscious is evidenced in the objects people surround themselves with. I now see their possessions as an extension of their being as opposed to just a pile of ‘stuff.’
Through the conference, I was introduced to Uda, a woman affected by hoarding disorder. She offered the opportunity for me to visit her home. As she told me stories about the ways she was wronged as a child, I took notice of her delivery in particular. She was very precise in her descriptions of the details, down to specific dates, exact times, her age, and the places in which these events occurred. When I looked around her home, I observed the precision with which she had organized her hoard of files, old letters, newspaper clippings, report cards, and more; this was the evidence of her past trauma. In the paintings I plan to create based on Uda’s environment, I seek to capture that.
My goal with this work is to actuate a visual language which represents the workings of the human mind. Although my paintings engage with aspects of realism, abstraction, and minimalism, the mental processes I depict require me to seek out a different set of visual archetypes. Blurring the lines between these genres, my work explores and makes visible the relationships between physical reality and the psyche.
Alrt:
I have created several bodies of work based on these concepts and often title my works with the names of the individuals whose homes the paintings are based on. My “Hoard” series of paintings are based on my visits with those affected by hoarding disorder. Although these paintings are depictions of real environments, I seek to find abstraction within them. My “OCD” series explores compulsions in pursuit of perfect order and represent the idealized state sought after by the minds of those affected by organizational OCD. These pieces can also be considered installations. These works are three-dimensional and consist of two-dimensional paintings installed on top of a rectangle painted on the wall. These works come with an installation diagram which not only specifies the size of the rectangle to be painted but dictates the precise locations of the paintings to be hung within that rectangle.
My goal with this work is to actuate a visual language which represents the workings of the human mind, taking abstraction and realism in a new direction. Through these paintings, I intend to make visible the relationships between physical reality and the mind. Although my paintings engage with aspects of realism, abstraction, and minimalism, the mental processes I attempt to depict require me to seek out a different set of visual archetypes.
More:
These three-dimensional works delve deeper into the compulsion for creating perfection and order within our physical surroundings. Recalling Sol LeWitt’s use of instructions for the “creation” of his wall paintings and drawings, these paintings are accompanied by a blueprint for installation. These diagrams not only specify the parameters of a rectangle to be painted on the wall using particular mass-produced house paint colors such as Benjamin Moore, they also dictate the precise locations of the oil paintings to be hung within that rectangle.