Senior Thesis Showcase: Into Fruition

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 Inspired by narratively driven music from artists such as Mick Jenkins, and animated movies such as Loving Vincent and Over The Garden Wall; my art is an extension of myself, an insight into the addictions I harbor: to pleasure, to vanity, to substance abuse and subjective hedonism. Born into opportunity, I am stripped of superficial expectations, which disappear like the inhibitions that once controlled me, lie bleeding on the side of what once was a sense of self, transformed by the inflation of ego through aesthetic visualizations of fantasies depicting self-betterment and growth. Birthed from the need to express, refined by a system prioritizing exploitation and expectation, I construct images from the unyielding plans of plaster and concrete, aimed at the eternal conflict between self and selfishness, which do not exist without one another. Internal hostilities towards the outward, protecting faces of projections once thought of as ourselves, prevent us from having an honest dialogue between the art, the viewer, and if needed, the artist.
I wish to break these walls down and show aspects of myself that I believe are present in all of us: the feeling of failure, the seeking of approval, the need to feel incorruptible, and, ultimately, the internal discourse that this dichotomy has within us. When history finds us at odds with our neighbors and at war with ourselves, where will we draw the line? Are we destined to be disillusioned by our vices and misconceptions, or do we confront the ideas that cause our confusion? Place yourself within the walls of ink and paper that trap the subjects rendered in these scenes: people I know, people I am, the abused, the abuser, the addicted, and the depressed. In the place of any character, put yourself.
We are all the same: the most dangerous creation of our egos is the illusion that we are different from one another. What do we do when we wish to feel protected from the institutions that trap us? Created by misconceptions about the ideals of our fellow man, we are all disadvantaged from the perspective of the curb.