VIOLENCE TRANSFORMED 2018: Stand Up (The Artist’s Voice
TRIUMPHANT: Brave, Bold and Smart
ARTIST STATEMENT 2018
The theme, “STAND UP (The Artist’s Voice)” speaks of the power of artists to change the course of history and shape the future. This isn’t a lofty, impossible goal, even given today’s world. Artists throughout time have done just this by using their art to speak out against injustice, bigotry and genocide.
In my art, I incorporate family mementos, found objects, ephemera and words as narrative tools to revisit historic events, family stories, our cultural heritage and our social values. As a conceptual artist, my intent is to challenge observers to project onto my works, their own meaning and provoke debate about who we are, what we stand for and how we live our lives.
In “TRIUMPHANT: Brave, Bold and Strong,” a courageous young girl stands alone to speak truth to power. She is an timeless tribal princess by heritage and heroic actions. She is Provider, Defender and Protector of her people, but more significant, she is a Peace Seeker. We know this from the art and whimsy she displays. In her right hand, she carries a deadly machete, but it’s decorated with a fanciful face. Around her neck, she wears a necklace of empty bullet shells and vintage crayons. Her left hand is that of a court jester, who is holding a simple rattle of flattened bottle caps, as if to say, “I Come in Peace.”
This brave young woman is as ancient as the Biblical Eve out of Africa, the genetic mother of us all, yet as contemporary as the statue now on Wall Street of “Fearless Girl” facing down the charging bull of the stock market.
TRIUMPHANT: Brave, Bold and Smart; Found Objects Construction (welder Gregg DeBiaso); H: 62”; W: 28”; D: 22”
This conceptual construction, a heroic figure for our time, is a steampunk skeleton of a vintage soil tiller, a strainer, a rusty grill, a red light, and other found objects.