Statement My life thus far has been fully immersed in the Mormon faith and culture. In this church, much like any other, there is a significant visual
history. Most of this history is depicted in 2D illustrations that tell stories of the formation of the church, its growth, movement around the
Midwest, its exodus to the West, and finally the settlement of Zion in Utah. The images of these stories are used primarily as educational
tools in Sunday school. In the last two decades, there has emerged a new "Mormon Art" market, not much different than Thomas Kinkade paintings
with Christian/Mormon themes. It has become what is popular taste in Utah and other Latter Day Saint (LDS) communities and the artistic and
aesthetic standard that other art is compared (except for a very small portion of the LDS population). I have complained that this "kitsch" is a misrepresentation of a new generation of artistic and aesthetic standards in the Mormon community.
In graduate school, I decided to create a new "Mormon Art" that reflects myself and my peers more accurately. Concurrent with my growing up Mormon, I have always felt the need to create images through drawing. The first group of drawings I remember
making were spacecraft with lasers and alien drivers. From there I moved onto BMX bikers moving through booby trapped tracks, every type of gun
possible, tanks, fighter jets, and exploding body parts. As a teenager I became interested in drawing still-lives, album art, surrealism, and
anything living in a fantasy realm. During my undergraduate degree, I began making art with paint and moved through every style in the twentieth
century, landing on installation and film. At this point, I moved out to San Francisco to get an MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. Living
far away from my native Utah, I felt moved to return to my beginnings and combine my Mormon influences with my art-making. My current work is about creating a visual narrative of spiritual experience. I am interested in how God communicates with man through celestial
manifestations such as visions, visitations, impressions, and dreams from the perspective of one who believes in them. Through a mix of strict
representation and abstraction, I visually represent these manifestations Ð making faith visible and connected to the physical world. I use appropriated
imagery from Bible and Book of Mormon illustrations and from modern and contemporary abstract painting and drawing. Considering the absence of religious
content in contemporary art, I am attempting to bring art and religion together.
|