EXPLORING TRENDS IN MY WORK: “LITTLE GUYS”

I’m often asked what my art means… and it’s never a simple answer. A lot of what I create is intended to evoke feelings and provoke individual thought more so than to communicate a specific message. That being said, there is intention that goes into creating the subjects of my work. You may notice commonalities that exist throughout various pieces and collections – one being what I refer to as my “Little Guys.”

What started as a train ride doodle on my commute to art school evolved into a recurring subject of my work that represents an outward expression of inner emotion. Their eyes are subtly expressive, so it takes staring at them awhile to be able to assign them an emotion or interpret their mood. Some are sassy, some are over it, some are content or happy. The Little Guys capture a wide range of human emotion and remind us that people (and circumstances) aren’t always as they appear on the surface. You need to take time to appreciate what makes them different.

While I do notice certain characteristics come to life as I paint, the Little Guys are always up to viewer interpretation. What I see when I look at a Little Guy could be entirely different than what you see! They are reflections of our current emotions, allowing for their meaning and significance to change over time. Similarly to a tattoo, they are little time stamps of a moment in time.

There’s also a humanistic element to the Little Guys that I love. No two Little Guys are the same. At first glance, they show the shared features that we all have as human beings (eyes, ears, mouth, nose, etc.) – but when you look more closely, you see each one is different in its own special way. Just like people. Over time the Little Guys have evolved, yet they aren’t incredibly different from how they started. They hold onto their roots, but play with their structure as they bring on ever-changing emotions through color and medium.