Unique hand-drawn book, ink and markers, hand-bound by the artist, 8 x 7½ inches. $250
Statement
My artwork is pattern based. It explores patterns and their relationship to color. My artworks are hand drawn using marker and ink on paper. Some of my influences are the Tibet sand patterns and Muslim designs.
I use repeating patterns, shapes, and lines to create my work. Some of my drawings are monochromatic while others use a rainbow of colors and others explore subtle color relationships in a more narrow range. Most of my work is free flowing with no predetermined design structure. But I use a compass in some to help with circle patterns that enhance those designs. Otherwise I just use the fluid motion of my hand to create my artwork.
I have also been interested in art history and over the years I have studied several artists that have inspired me. Artists such as Pablo Picasso, M.C. Escher, Jackson Pollock, and Chuck Close are some of my favorite artists because of their relationship in their works to shapes, patterns, and colors.
In 2009 I started looking at nature and the patterns found in nature, and started some new works on paper related to my graphic design work. These new pattern designs are of the exotic plants at the Wave Hill garden in the Bronx, based on their shapes and colors. I have also used my designs to create hand drawn books.
Biography
I was born in Brooklyn New York in 1983. I moved to Potsdam in upstate New York when I was three years old and lived there until 1994 when I moved back to New York City. I have lived in the Bronx since then.
I studied art at the High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan where I graduated in 2001. In the fall of 2001 I enrolled in the New York City College of Technology (CUNY). I learned graphic design, photography, and animation and I graduated with my Associates in Applied Science in 2005. After I graduated I started to focus more seriously on pattern images on paper, which I have done all my life. These series of detailed images include repetition of shapes and exploration of color. I took a pop-up book art workshop with Maddy Rosenberg and in 2007 I took a book arts class at The Center for Book Arts.
In 2009 I started a new art project at the Wave Hill garden in the Bronx related to my graphic design work. These new pattern designs are of the exotic plants at the garden, based on their shapes and colors. I use my pattern designs in my book art projects.
