About

BAM! POW! THWACK! CRASH! How do you capture movement and impact on a page? In a drawing? In a sculpture? Influenced by comics, cartoons, and my combat sport upbringing, my work highlights the tension and movement a body produces when training and conditioning itself to defend. 

Growing up, I took great pride in having the discipline to excel at Taekwondo; an art form steeped in structure and regimen. I approach my artistic practice in the same way we are taught to honor our physical bodies in Taekwondo. The repetition inherent in the practice of printmaking and sculpting mirrors that of martial arts. I tend to print using multiple layers. I frame the different sections of the composition to create friction between layers which communicates the idea of movement and pressure. I prefer to work without registration, which demonstrates complete trust between myself and my material. Having only one chance to pull the image means I give myself little room for error, yet when an error arises, it remains intentional for the viewer. In my sculptural work, I explore the same themes. I use illustration, carving, and metalwork to show that the body can both endure and receive impact. Through this approach, my work conveys pain, joy, and movement. I often use discarded breaking boards to build on the confidence and strength emanating from the Taekwondo students and to reduce wasted wood. The ridges I make in the wood demonstrate certainty in mark-making, where I insert valleys that merge into a single image, reminiscent of poomsae (Taekwondo forms). The metal used in my work is sharp, rigid, and radiant; it is attractive but dangerous if approached without appropriate respect.  The combination of my choice of medium and jerry-rigged construction techniques guides the viewer through the sensations of combat that I emulate.

As a dyslexic person and visual learner, comics and cartoons are how I connect to storytelling. The illustrations exemplify physicality, sound, and context, to complete the story with few words. I strive to create work that invites the viewer to experience the movement and sounds of impact. While I continue to work with these concepts, I draw from my experience teaching Taekwondo to children. Every student comes to the dojang for a different reason, with different abilities, and it is the teacher’s job to recognize potential and guide the students as they learn the structure, practice the repetition, and ultimately succeed in their own versions of perfection. Working with raw and found materials, I recognize their potential to capture kinetic snapshots of fighters and limbs.