Growing up, I was so intrigued by who I was “supposed” to be. I always had this notion that one day something would happen, and it would become clear to me who I really was at my core, who I was meant to be. In life, I found out, it is the culmination of my experiences that makes me who I am, in this current moment, standing atop all the hardships and joys. I miss that childlike theatrical view of transformation into self, and I want to find a place for those adverse realities to coincide. The fantasy of future meets the tangible opportunity of the current self. This body of work is about those fundamental feelings and experiences that we use as tools to forge our identity. Sorrow, joy, indifference, rage, all building block of that self we spend our lives developing.
My deconstructed marionette lays, in wait for the viewers visual construction- a prompt to use these representational forms and forge an identity for the piece. In turn, the viewer is confronted with their own construction. Each individual part of the Marionette is meant to feel disjointed or distantly related, as the parts that make up ourselves as a whole can sometimes be disjointed, conflicting, and vastly diverse. I’ve set a stage for my work, influenced by theatrical set design, a curated space made for the viewer and performer alike. This set influenced display pushes my theatrical influences, but also push ideas of consideration of self. This recognizable set up, a workspace, meant to contain a constructable human that is controllable holds narrative of the changeable and varied, mirroring aspects of our selves.
My interest in performative sculpture is rooted in Frank Paris’s marionettes. Theatre gave me an escape and I found inspiration and a similar escape from my great grandmother’s brother, Frank Paris, whose art was on prominent display in my Mimi’s house. Strange and beautiful marionettes with exaggerated expressions and elaborate decoration. I had my own museum of familial wonders and those works have permanently embedded themselves in the way I view the world artistically. Frank was known for performing alongside his works, making them dance and come to life before the viewers eyes. He lived and worked in both LA and New York but performed with his hand made marionettes all over the world. He left a tiny Texas town at a young age to find success and independence in his art.
There was a deep sense of chemistry between him and his works, and when he performed it was as if the viewer was being let in on a private exploration of relationship between maker and creation. He approached his work with a childlike sense of curiosity, starting with sketches and paintings of beautifully dressed figures posed in theatrical scenes. From there his marionettes would come to life from wood, fibers, paint, string, wire; any material that accomplished the sense of wonder and beauty he placed in all his pieces.
It’s this combination of performance, drama and mixed media sculpture that I carry on into this body of work. Frank was a deep well of overtly strange and beautiful art for my young and misunderstood heart. As I grow in my artistry, I find myself meeting Frank repeatedly. Being related to someone who had successfully, and unabashedly pursued art gave me permission to do the same, and to ultimately utilize art as a means of self-discovery and growth. Here, I invite the viewer to do the same- use this work as a tool to consider and discover who we are at our core.
