Hooked, 2006

H O O K E D , A Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition

This body of work evokes a cartoon narrative format which, paired with visual complexity, is used to portray my own social and cultural desires, fears, and experiences. I depict anxiety, tension, struggle, and isolation to reveal deception, which stems from responses to structures of power. It is a representation, questioning, and/ or critique of the state of today's human nature and condition. Animals become a stand-in for the human figure. Mechanical devices portray harmful systems of power. Through the illusion of transparency, I combine these disparate forms to create a unit which functions to evoke an empathy toward the human condition and shows that things are ultimately out of our own control. The media of printmaking facilitates layering and also allows this imagery to be shared with a wider audience. In the creation of this work, I have been largely influenced by the dream-like qualities of Surrealism, the political work of Honore Daumier and Francisco Goya, and contemporary artists who create elaborate narratives, such as Trenton Doyle Hancock and Matthew Barney.