I enjoy the challenge of creating a space or environment for people to reconnect with wonder and childlike awe. I seek to empower the viewer in a self discovery journey to see themselves in a different way, freeing themselves from their inhibitions. Perhaps granting the possibility of transformation in their reality and that a living spectator can be the art on itself, a blank, flesh canvas of endless possibilities…
With the mediums of body paint, make-up, special FX, photography, and scenic installation I look to create three different experiences that parallel the three ways a person can experience their own life and a cycle for my own creations.
- By looking at my work through a photograph, the observer can be moved by the image, and experience disbelief or curiosity as to how it was done. They view the result as an outsider and their emotional experience ends there.
- Within live installations of my work, where the body painted characters inhabits an environment, the viewer is allowed to touch and interact with the actors thus becoming a participant. The person experiences awe, bewilderment, and they step out of their minds to experience the art in their present, living moment. It opens them to the possibilities of becoming something they may not have considered before.
- The third experience is the most transformative: “Can I be a canvas of flesh myself?”, or further “Can I express the very essence of me with a visual manifestation where I am the source?” This experience requires them to become vulnerable; to take a risk by stepping out of their box, and to BE whatever it is they want to be. A dialogue of discovery ensues: based on the person’s fantasies and desires and a new installation is formed. When they become a work of art, they are now the source of inspiration and of emotional rousing in others, as well as creating an experience that now will stay with them and be relived through a new photograph.
I have chosen the medium of body paint and make-up to portray this process because it is the only literal way to transpose art from the world onto (or into) the person. People often view a movie or a work of art, or a photograph and imagine themselves in that time or place, or in that emotion, myself included. I started creating these vignettes in order to satisfy the periods or themes I longed for in my own mind. I also added the elements of theatrical installation with murals and props to further create the world the living art can exist in. My love of make-up, painting, and theater fuses and becomes one.
Becoming art is something not many can think possible and making their dreams into reality can seem a farfetched idea as well. But all dreams and manifestations can feel like a picture you are looking at from far away. It is your involvement, your commitment to your ideas that transforms it into reality. One takes risks; one-steps out of their box and the dream become reality. I live for the spectators dream to be the source of my inspiration with unlimited possibilities; a world that can be anything; another time, another dimension, a mirror for what we desire in our heads. My work is a playful exercise to inspire transformation and a permanent shift in perception within the person who experiences it.
This is what I offer my clients, and this is is what I offer anyone who wants to take it on… Come play.