Baker Artist Portfolios

This is a small sample of earlier works in which I externalized ideas about a universal energy or force that I knew to exist through my personal meditative practice and visualizations of what I saw and felt when I was in a meditative state. I was very interested in making spaces that had or stand-ins for figures that dissolved into or were interrupted by the spaces that they were integrally a part of. We are discrete objects, alienated from other objects or beings by our solid form and yet fluid bodies constantly in a state of flux, giving and receiving information in the form of energy.

In this work I was dealing with, examining, and visualizing the idea of a universal consciousness or energy that connects all beings and entities in the universe, and the idea that everything is essentially made up of the same “stuff” weaving in and out of and melding into one another. I was moving away from talking about this energy in an extremely personal way that centered around how I felt this energy, how I saw this energy and how I manifested this energy; and I was beginning to move toward visualizing this universal force in a way that was separate from myself and my body.

In this work I was dealing with, examining, and visualizing the idea of a universal consciousness or energy that connects all beings and entities in the universe, and the idea that everything is essentially made up of the same “stuff” weaving in and out of and melding into one another. I was moving away from talking about this energy in an extremely personal way that centered around how I felt this energy, how I saw this energy and how I manifested this energy and was beginning to move toward visualizing this universal force in a way that was separate from myself and my body.

My work currently seeks to visualize the physical and spiritual structure of space, time, and the universe. The work draws from ideas found in string theory, multiverse theory, and theoretical physics, seen in the works of Brian Greene, Stephen Wolfram, and the writing of Lynne McTaggart, that explore and support the idea that matter is shaped by the existence of consciousness.

Non-traditional and mixed media

Two Moons, or Why the Full Moon Hates Me is a participatory installation that invites viewers to create collages on glowing orbs by arranging transparent cutouts of animal heads, human body parts, and random objects on overhead projectors. Participants were asked to take instagram images of their creations and tag them #moonhatesme.

Taken from an online collection of early 20th century glass plates, these digital montages explore the restricted world of male homosocial environments. Photographs of young men in athletic or leisurely poses are superimposed on desolate backgrounds. The images of the young men are often multiplied and arranged on the page as to suggest a kind of movement, or dance taking place. Their poses reflect a sense of naivety about their seeming sexuality in front of the camera.

Full Moon, 2010 is a series of ritual performances that centered around the full moon, which took place about an hour after the moonrise on the night of the full moon in May and June of 2010.

Clash of the Titans explores animal-human hybrids and other archetypes through the contemporary lens of celebrity culture. As part of my MFA thesis exhibition, the work was expanded to include the Ganesh Lagerfeld series, which depicts a hybridized image of the popular Indian deity Ganesha and the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld in the forms of a hand-made collage, a life-sized replica mounted on a double-sided light box, and an animation that shows Ganesh interacting with paparazzi.