Paintings and Drawings, 2007 – 2008

Paintings and drawings, various media and sizes
2007–2008
Photography: Bassem Yousri

This body of work marks a turning point in my practice. Made during my first year of MFA study at Tyler School of Art, these paintings and drawings grew out of a deep dissatisfaction with my relationship to painting — and specifically with the conservative tradition of rendering the human figure.

I began introducing cartoon-like figures that looked as though a child had drawn them. At the time, I saw them as freer and wiser than realistically rendered figures — inhabitants of a realm the conventional figure could neither see nor access. They were a metaphor for my own aspiration to evolve, to widen my perspective, to break with what I already knew how to do.

These figures were, above all, an act of rebellion against my own conventions. At some point they took over entirely — and in doing so, they led me toward a more playful, multidisciplinary way of working. The installations and experimental films that followed grew directly out of what started here.