Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
2024
8 × 11 in.
Mixed Media on Paper
This collage is a collection of thoughts, characters, colors, and words that represent different pieces of what goes on inside my head. There isn't one central character or one story. Everything competes for space because that's sometimes what thoughts and emotions feel like to me.
Some parts are funny. Some are sexual. Some are strange. Some are uncomfortable. And some are extremely serious.
One of the ideas written into the piece is that we often don't understand the true value of something until we lose it. I think that's especially true with people. We can spend so much time worrying about everything else in life that we forget how temporary our relationships, friendships, experiences, and even our own lives actually are. Sometimes loss is what finally teaches us what mattered.
Another part of the collage deals directly with men and suicide. I wrote about the stigma that tells men they aren't supposed to talk when something is wrong. We're taught to carry our problems quietly, act strong, and keep moving. But there is nothing strong about suffering alone simply because you're afraid of admitting that you're hurting.
I'd rather have somebody cry on my shoulder than go to their funeral.
That thought is probably one of the most important things written anywhere in this piece.
The colorful characters surrounding the words are intentionally strange and playful. That's part of how I communicate. Humor, cartoons, absurdity, and bright colors can sit beside thoughts about loneliness, love, death, desire, and mental health because that's how those things exist in real life. A person can make a joke and still be hurting. Someone can look ridiculous and still have something meaningful to say. Happiness and sadness don't have to exist separately.
Things I Don't Always Say is less like a traditional painting and more like opening my head and putting pieces of it onto paper. There isn't a clean conclusion because I don't think our thoughts ever really have one. They overlap, contradict each other, disappear, and come back.
Painting gives me somewhere to put all of that.
Sometimes the things that are hardest to say out loud are the things most worth saying.
2024
8 × 11 in.
Mixed Media on Paper
This collage is a collection of thoughts, characters, colors, and words that represent different pieces of what goes on inside my head. There isn't one central character or one story. Everything competes for space because that's sometimes what thoughts and emotions feel like to me.
Some parts are funny. Some are sexual. Some are strange. Some are uncomfortable. And some are extremely serious.
One of the ideas written into the piece is that we often don't understand the true value of something until we lose it. I think that's especially true with people. We can spend so much time worrying about everything else in life that we forget how temporary our relationships, friendships, experiences, and even our own lives actually are. Sometimes loss is what finally teaches us what mattered.
Another part of the collage deals directly with men and suicide. I wrote about the stigma that tells men they aren't supposed to talk when something is wrong. We're taught to carry our problems quietly, act strong, and keep moving. But there is nothing strong about suffering alone simply because you're afraid of admitting that you're hurting.
I'd rather have somebody cry on my shoulder than go to their funeral.
That thought is probably one of the most important things written anywhere in this piece.
The colorful characters surrounding the words are intentionally strange and playful. That's part of how I communicate. Humor, cartoons, absurdity, and bright colors can sit beside thoughts about loneliness, love, death, desire, and mental health because that's how those things exist in real life. A person can make a joke and still be hurting. Someone can look ridiculous and still have something meaningful to say. Happiness and sadness don't have to exist separately.
Things I Don't Always Say is less like a traditional painting and more like opening my head and putting pieces of it onto paper. There isn't a clean conclusion because I don't think our thoughts ever really have one. They overlap, contradict each other, disappear, and come back.
Painting gives me somewhere to put all of that.
Sometimes the things that are hardest to say out loud are the things most worth saying.