Charcoal on collaged paper

51.5 x 48 in

This is the world as I know it. Ruminating on the issues in my practice, the statement, "An artist must eat the world to produce a new one,” came to mind. My work is highly imaginative. I conjure up worlds to tell truths about life, but. I realized that I needed more to pull from. I desperately need to EAT THE WORLD. 

In this piece, I am back to the roots of my practice: paper and a pigmented stick. To start the series, this piece is a drawing from memory—an attempt to document what I have seen enough to “know” it. I needed a container for these memories, so I loosened my grip on my charcoal stick. I let my arms swing freely on the paper and danced portals of my world onto the page. With my eyes closed, I filled each portal with a glimpse of what I could recall. Here is what I saw: my hands stretched forward, my face, my brother, my partner, my friends, a plate of dinner, My first car crash, the clouds, my studio, Detroit, an anatomically correct skull, and a tree.