Sustained Attention: Graphite

Artist Statement

I draw feminine figures and objects in private, undefined spaces. The women are in ritual-like poses, repressing tension and desire. These poses act as an endurance exercise of sorts, allowing the women to realign themselves. The still lifes I draw are often made of silver and glass—one a material that the world can be viewed through and another that reflects it back.

I search for meaning, albeit invented through my drawings: the resting of a chin on a shelf, the slow swinging of a bell on a string, the light reflecting through the glass of a salt shaker. Alone these things are trivial, a mere happening in a private space. I impart meaning to them while drawing them over an extended period of time, often months. I declare these things are purposeful with every hour spent scratching pencil to paper, my concentration and movements becoming a ritual in and of itself.