about the artist
My work is located in the space where globalized culture presses against local culture. Ubiquitous, mass produced everyday objects also exist in this space. When seen as more than just utilitarian, these objects become something full of social meaning —historic, political and cultural weight modifies and transforms the object into something larger. By eliminating the body and submitting the mass produced items to the physical pressures of the printing press I seek to explore these complex social and economic pressures.
Using a combination of printmaking, sculpture and found objects, I create installations that at once seem both familiar and unexpected.
Founding Member of We da Pepo
WE DA PEPO is an art collective interested in a diverse, broad definition of the American experience. We are minorities, immigrants, legal aliens, Americas. Our common language is English but we also speak the language of our places of origin. We are cultural, linguistic hybrids who invent new words everyday, words spoken in Spanglish, Chinglish, Konglish, etc. We grow up with older relatives who speak English with a thick accent, who wear their “otherness” in every syllable they utter. Yet we [are also] the people of these United States of America, the ones referred to in our constitution.
Our collective is named after an anthology of essays on culture identity by Jose Antonio Burciaga. We honor his work and continue asking the questions he posed related to identity, society and culture.