What was the inspiration behind your show, In the Mirror Ball, You're the Dying Light, at Candystore Collective?
"My biggest inspiration was Prada's spring 2011 collection, which was full of bright-colored stripes, solids, and prints of bananas and cherubs. The bold colors and pattern choices really stood out to me, and I was interested in how those patterns weren't just about fashion's latest trend. They started to reference painters like Agnes Martin and Andy Warhol, and became part of a larger conversation for me. Although I tend to use bright, poppy colors and patterns in my paintings, my work definitely has a darker tone to it. While making this series, I was thinking a lot about afterimages, which are optical illusions that refer to an image continuing to appear after the original image has ceased. I was also spending a lot of time thinking about the images you see when you close your eyes tightly for a long time, or what you might see right before you die. I used the advertising of couture fashion designers as a platform for representing the void as psychedelic kaleidoscopic patterns, hot pink, and images of the cosmos."
What materials did you use?
"For the collages, I primarily used images from a fashion spread photographed by Sølve Sundsbø from the May 2011 issue of W. This spread featured clothes with bright, kaleidoscopic colors and op-art-like prints from designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Missoni. I took those images and then cut out geometric shapes into different patterns and put images of outer space and solid fields of hot pink and metallic behind them to make a psychedelic, disorienting image. The companion paintings were made with watercolor, gouache, and acrylic to mimic the stripes and color schemes of Prada's fur scarves for spring."
How much does fashion inform your work?
"Fashion has been a large part of my work for the past four years. I have a huge stack of fashion magazines that I have collected over the years that I'm constantly looking through for inspiration or images to use in my collages. I'm really interested in making artwork that accepts the rapture of material culture in its enthralling embrace and self-destructiveness. And I can't help but gush over a hot pair of shoes!"
What's up next for you?
"I just moved into a brand-new studio and I can't wait to get back to work! I plan on making a series of sculptures based on the pieces I have up at Candystore Collective."
In the Mirror Ball, You're the Dying Light, runs through August 15th at Candystore Collective, 3153 16th Street (between Valencia and Guerrero streets); 888-601-0117.
Another work, 'Smoke and Mirrors,' from the exhibit.