My work explores the language of the theatre: staging imagined stories of comedy and tragedy. I explore how the choreography of comedy often shares a similar language with the choreography of tragedy. In comedic styles, like slapstick or commedia dell’arte, its figures’ movements and poses can be understood, or rather misunderstood, as tragic- laughing and crying can appear the same. My paintings focus on this tension. Their settings are equally unreliable as key details are often hidden behind curtains or waiting just off stage. The works are made up of these incongruous details to create stories of uncertainty. To me, the paintings are whispered by a lonely and eccentric off-duty jester. He sits half-unzipped from his harlequin bodysuit, cigarette in hand, and tells his listeners stories of his life, often exciting, devious, and only half-true.
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