FOURPLAY
Artist Statement
My work employs acute visual simplicity. I employ varied forms of graphic minimalism in a desire to communicate ideas in highly reduced forms. I am overly sensitive to noise, it makes me uncomfortable. The removal of noise, be it auditory or visual is a defining aspect of my personality which dictates the way I work and the artwork that I create. I find solace in simplicity.
The series FOURPLAY combines graphic minimalism in constructs of simple words to create dialogues, albeit with a highly redduced vocabulary. Communication solely through four letter words places gravity upon the selected word(s), where the rationale for a words selection is left intentionally vague. The lack of clarity challenges the viewer to create the context, definition and importance of the word(s) presented. The confusion towards the meaning and intent is further accentuated by the visual abstraction of each word into reduced geometric forms that at first viewing are commonly not understood to represent words. The opaque interaction to what appear to be mere visual abstractions is a vehicle to nurture a more considered interaction once a word is successfully visualized.
We live in an era of incessant social commentary on platforms that were scarcely available a generation ago where the use of words has never been more pervasive in daily interactions. Words can certainly be used for enlightenment, but equally they have become vehicles for intolerance. FOURPLAY presents abstractions of single words, that once fully realized require personal involvement in defining the meaning and importance of a each word. The ultimate intention being to confront individual perception, use and bias by questioning how we employ and manipulate words intentionally or not in our own social discourse.