I am currently a third year student at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Before enrolling at ECIAD I was enrolled in the Fine Arts program at Langara College for two years.

The subject of my oil paintings has been solely the figure, particularly my immediate circle of family and friends. These figures usually take on a geometric form and are dressed in red clothing or have an agent of red in them. My work varies in scale but is mostly large scale.

My work is influenced by many artists through out time, but the artists I find most influential are Rembrandt van Rijn, German printmaker Käthe Kollwitz and British painter Euan Uglow.

Currently I am interested in Russian constructivism particularly Nikolai Kolli's sculpture that is titled "The Red Wedge Cleaving the White Block" from 1918. In this sculpture a red wedge is penetrating a white rectangular shape. The red wedge in Russia around this time was a symbol for the revolution of 1917 and was seen as an anti-establishment symbol. As a result of this revolution a communist state was set into place. Through time this state or revolution became the ultimate establishment and the ultimate form of conformity. Thus a revolution had turned into exactly what it was fighting against. This historical event can be compared to modernists and their fight against the establishment of their time. Just like the red army modernist's force out the prior establishment, only to form their own hierarchical system. In the name of progress modernists setup an establishment that contained all the qualities of a regime from dictatorship to conformity.

My recent paintings have derived their titles and geometric forms from Kolli's work and comment on these qualities of Modernism. By referring to an older form of expression (Old Master Style) I am showing what the modernists left behind as well as what they were against. My paintings show disillusionment with Modernism and question what they rejected as well as the effects of that rejection on postmodern ideals. Using Kolli's sculpture as a starting point for a figure painting is an ironic gesture, not only because his red wedge took the place of the figure on the plinth, but because I am using his symbol of revolution to critique our society's conformist tendencies. By placing a symbol connected to communism in a capitalist context it can take on a new meaning. In doing so I am attempting to draw attention to the ongoing resonance of the discarded throughout history.