Self-Portraits

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I am fascinated with insistent self-questioning and what it can reveal about ones identity. How mental uneasiness can manifest itself physically. My introversion and obsessive inner-dialogue have inevitably led me to create fictitious self-portraits. In these portraits, my mental angst transforms into physical duress through accidents, mishaps, dismemberment and eventual repair. Many of these self-portraits are large scale, meticulously carved woodcut prints depicting these scenes. The process of print is inseparable from my experiences since the nature of print harbors innumerable minute decisions. My particular interest in this body of work has been with the effort to create woodcut prints that defy the typical marks and style of woodcuts. Inconspicuous unnecessary struggle plays a major role in both the imagery and process of the work. Each print media has its own unique set of marks that help it to be identified, and it is through this jarring of the identity of the print itself, that I find such a rich ground for discussion of the identity of the self.