"The Sublime and the Beautiful" focuses on the tension between the seemingly disparate concepts of sublime and beauty. Vast landscapes inspire us—they instill in us wonder and bewilderment. Nature evokes the sublime; it overwhelms us with its enormity and grandeur. The sublime can be a destabilizing force; it instills in the viewer an overwhelming feeling of awe and astonishment. In contrast, the beautiful is a set of aesthetic principles. It is well formed and visually pleasing, but devoid of emotional gravity. My work attempts to render the sublime using the language of the beautiful, and to occupy the liminal space in between. Ephemerality is crucial to my understanding of beauty, and so my work must be ephemeral in both its appearance and its literal artistic lifespan. I use masking tape in my work as a means of articulating the tension between the sublime and the beautiful. I tear each piece of tape by hand, meticulously assembling the fragile material into seamless undulating lines. I find this embodied art-making process to be personal and emotional; each print simultaneously hides and displays my hand in the work.
2013.