My work centers the everyday, focusing on individuals’ un-theorized, taken-for-granted experiences and understandings of their worlds. Individuals constitute themselves through their daily practices and routines, making choices that shape who they are (and want to be), but these often remain unseen and unrecognized. Foregrounding these seemingly thoughtless and individual, yet deeply meaningful, social practices, I render these choices visible.
I highlight these practices through material and process juxtaposition, using a variety of mediums. My representational work ranges from etching-based installation to cast sculpture to contour line drawing, and often incorporates other components such as textile, sound and scent. Hard, heavy singular objects contrast delicate, airy, multiples. I pair intricately hand-cut prints with commercial materials, such as concrete and rebar, or use bold graphic elements in conjunction with delicate line drawing and translucent films.
Guided by a conceptual and aesthetic thread, extensive research and precise craft unify my art. I examine the stuff of our lives and its role in creating and sustaining our identity. From the objects we choose to surround ourselves with, both utilitarian and precious, to the clothing with which we project ourselves onto the world, to how we use and maintain our homes. Etching and hand-cut elements speak to labor, repetition and routine, while translucent yet strong papers emphasize underlying, unseen strength. Cast concrete creates visual weight and draws attention to the physical weight of the stuff that makes our lives. My minimal aesthetic requires each element to carry both visual and conceptual weight—doing a lot with a little—providing precisely the necessary information and nothing extra.
As a Guatemalan of Jewish heritage who was raised in the United States, my perspective is simultaneously inside and out, both within and between cultures. This creates a unique vantage point, one that both allows and compels me to see that which is ordinarily peripheral to vision. Adding an anthropological approach, I observe and seek to understand my surroundings. My artwork is a visual manifestation of this process.