ARTIST'S STATEMENT

As a guerrilla sociologist, I make farcical, narrative assemblages, wallworks and installations that heroicize the sweaty, vulnerable, fumbling, stuttering, impulsive aspects of humanity in the face of corporate globalization and it’s resultant dehumanizing effects.  I chew on issues that threaten our
self-reliance, such as surveillance, demographic over-quantification and standardization. I do it
tongue-in-cheek, crammed with worthy objects, objects with a rugged complexion and empathetic potential.

I lace these rants with my alter ego, Blotista Paradisimo, who possesses qualities that ensure sanity
in a rapidly changing world.  She’s there to sound the alarm against preoccupation with meaningless concrete factoids, she’s the one to spit on fashion, to save the last bits of urban nature, to rage against the FCC’s deregulation of our news sources.  She nurtures the Marshall McLuhans, the Jack Kerouacs, and the Julia Butterflys of the world, ever mindful of the toll on our souls each time we
cramp our impulses and bend to the whims of commercial sterility.

           
My process embraces my affection for Americana as a symbol of desired values – a powerful work
ethic, the responsibility to be an active citizen, and attention to community. I hunt and gather antique supports, ephemera and worn objects in backroad antique malls, gutters, and auto junk yards.  I use lots of text, fibers, photography, etchings, and drawings to shape bombastic tales about bad drivers, singles ads, overstimulation, our quest for privacy, undrivable mall parking lots, grassroots politics,
and the qualities it takes to maintain a creative life. 

My art is based on a personal urgency to seek contentment as my three and a half million friends and I drive down Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, swerving against Hummers, startling at cell phone rings, cringing as the radio news grinds out soundbites about global warming and tainted spinach.  I fume with notebook in lap, hoping for twenty seconds of a red light, to shape Blotista’s next adventure.  I aim to describe the absurdity of urban life today in a way that encourages everyone to express themselves, to redevelop the community, empathy, and connection it takes to keep us blushing on tip-toes, alive and well.