Artist Statement: SEVEN GENERATION RULE
As a race, we are slowly becoming aware of the damage mankind has done to our planet. Yet we continue to decimate nature as we have since the Industrial Revolution. This is a mindset where nature is solely for human consumption, animals were created for our profit and the Earth is too large for us to destroy.
I have entitled my upcoming series of paintings “Seven Generation Rule.”
The title refers to a belief of First Nations people that states that when you are going to make a major decision, you should first think back on seven generations of your ancestors and then think ahead on seven generations of your children. We would never want to desecrate the memory of our elders and we would all want to conserve a home for our children seven generations into the future.
In these works, I will address my concerns about our treatment of the Earth as well as the consumer-driven society in which we live. I will be combining images of plants and animals taken from Aesop’s Fables with brightly colored packaging and garish carousel decoration in order to create an ironic image. With this series, I hope to critique modern life and provoke discussion regarding our place in the natural world.
As a race, we are slowly becoming aware of the damage mankind has done to our planet. Yet we continue to decimate nature as we have since the Industrial Revolution. This is a mindset where nature is solely for human consumption, animals were created for our profit and the Earth is too large for us to destroy.
I have entitled my upcoming series of paintings “Seven Generation Rule.”
The title refers to a belief of First Nations people that states that when you are going to make a major decision, you should first think back on seven generations of your ancestors and then think ahead on seven generations of your children. We would never want to desecrate the memory of our elders and we would all want to conserve a home for our children seven generations into the future.
In these works, I will address my concerns about our treatment of the Earth as well as the consumer-driven society in which we live. I will be combining images of plants and animals taken from Aesop’s Fables with brightly colored packaging and garish carousel decoration in order to create an ironic image. With this series, I hope to critique modern life and provoke discussion regarding our place in the natural world.
Artist Statement: NOSTRA AETATE (Our Times)
For the last two years, I have been working on a series of paintings that focuses on the contradictions that lie between human faith and human actions within the context of religion.
Currently, humanity is searching for peace and unity in a time dominated by chaos and violence. I believe that at this time, it is vital for me as an artist to emphasize the inherent value of human life regardless of race, religion or sex. Although all great world religions advocate love, compassion, tolerance and hope, faith consistently becomes the catalyst for hostility and fear among people. With this series, I hope to deconstruct some of the perceptions of our disparity by drawing parallels between differing religions.
Nostra Aetate is a document on the relation of the Roman Catholic Church to non-Christian religions written by Pope Paul VI in 1965. The declaration expresses the Church’s reverence for other faiths. As a Catholic learning from the wisdom of religions outside my own for the first time, I considered it a fitting title to this series.
Each piece in this series consists of one image juxtaposed with another. This is done to express two aspects of religion that are distinct, but connected at the same time. These aspects consist of our desire for spiritual perfection, and our fallibility.
I employed religious statues in my paintings, in order to portray a shrine of sorts. The statues symbolize the core teachings of the religion depicted. Candy has been used to represent human greed, appetite and lust. The candy has the effect of trivializing the statue that it surrounds, symbolizing the damaging effect that sin has on religion’s impact. While the visual combination of candy and statue conflict, they are structurally inseparable in each piece in the same way that religion cannot escape human weakness. Though human beings strive for strength in faith, we inevitably give in to some temptation, causing pain to those around us.
With “Nostra Aetate”, I wish to stress the importance of theistic and cultural tolerance in a very tumultuous age where the term “global” is more and more commonly used. I also want to impart the importance of religious and spiritual beliefs while acknowledging religion’s failings due to human egotism and ignorance.
For the last two years, I have been working on a series of paintings that focuses on the contradictions that lie between human faith and human actions within the context of religion.
Currently, humanity is searching for peace and unity in a time dominated by chaos and violence. I believe that at this time, it is vital for me as an artist to emphasize the inherent value of human life regardless of race, religion or sex. Although all great world religions advocate love, compassion, tolerance and hope, faith consistently becomes the catalyst for hostility and fear among people. With this series, I hope to deconstruct some of the perceptions of our disparity by drawing parallels between differing religions.
Nostra Aetate is a document on the relation of the Roman Catholic Church to non-Christian religions written by Pope Paul VI in 1965. The declaration expresses the Church’s reverence for other faiths. As a Catholic learning from the wisdom of religions outside my own for the first time, I considered it a fitting title to this series.
Each piece in this series consists of one image juxtaposed with another. This is done to express two aspects of religion that are distinct, but connected at the same time. These aspects consist of our desire for spiritual perfection, and our fallibility.
I employed religious statues in my paintings, in order to portray a shrine of sorts. The statues symbolize the core teachings of the religion depicted. Candy has been used to represent human greed, appetite and lust. The candy has the effect of trivializing the statue that it surrounds, symbolizing the damaging effect that sin has on religion’s impact. While the visual combination of candy and statue conflict, they are structurally inseparable in each piece in the same way that religion cannot escape human weakness. Though human beings strive for strength in faith, we inevitably give in to some temptation, causing pain to those around us.
With “Nostra Aetate”, I wish to stress the importance of theistic and cultural tolerance in a very tumultuous age where the term “global” is more and more commonly used. I also want to impart the importance of religious and spiritual beliefs while acknowledging religion’s failings due to human egotism and ignorance.
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