Thoughts on Wearing the Sweats Out:

I have always drawn monsters with a vague air of anxiety.  In 2017, I lost a close family member to cancer.  They were young and their struggle with illness was swift.  In my grief I created two self portraits:  “Grief” and “1-27-17.”  Through these pieces I realize that the monsters I draw all have a level of self-portraiture to them.  More directly, they are a visual manifestation of the anxiety I have within me.  Though my specific anxiety currently stems from the loss of a loved one, most people are living in a general sense of anxiety throughout our country.  Tumultuous political times, global warming, refugees fleeing war-torn regions, racism, growing income inequality, rust-belt cities plunging into an opioid epidemic while drug companies reap enormous reward:  it’s all quite monstrous.  Drawing monsters provides an outlet for tension with the outside world by providing a visual metaphor for one’s internal world.