Home       Art       Resume       CD/Book       Reviews       Statement       Contact


ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My work offers colorful narratives about urban life, much of it specific to Los Angeles. I categorize and comment on local issues such as traffic patterns, over-development, qualities that define a city, and the architecture of Los Angeles. I use sociology and psychology to consider contemporary issues such as telemarketers, surveillance, the complexity of modern life, relationships and communication, consumerism and excessive materialism, fashion, the evolution of media, politics, adjusting to the Electronic Age, the quality of our medical care, psychotherapy, the development of language, school cultures, and art marketing in Los Angeles.


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 its resultant dehumanizing effects.  I chew on issues that threaten our self-reliance, such as surveillance, demographic over-quantification and standardization. I work tongue-in-cheek, and employ worthy objects, objects with a rugged complexion and empathetic potential.

           
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.

 
I aim to describe the richness and absurdity of urban life today, to catalyze reflection. I want to encourage everyone to tell their stories, to soften the frustration and isolation that we feel, and to infuse a poetic trance back into this impatient world.


      
 
Copyright © by Kathi Flood. All rights reserved.