Through the locked door

Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-48)Through the Locked Door is a collection of ten paintings that express an emotional landscape of dreams and fears. The work is derived from my life experiences, travel, relationships and the study of many artists. The main source of the work, however, is drawn from opening the locked door of the unconscious through processes inspired by Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung and Surrealism. I have developed a personal pictorial language that is intuitive and symbolic rather than descriptive. Weightless, fragmented and isolated objects are constructed with bold lines and flattened shapes in pared-down and afocal compositions. Cryptic narratives guard the story. Color is used to reconstruct different emotional states and to connect fragmentary, nonnarrative action. Rough, gritty and meaty surface qualities are achieved by applying thick layers of oil paint in blunt marks and fulfill my need to be simple and direct. Physically dense layers coexist with thin ones and do not disguise the processes that created them, including the gesture and mark making. The space within the paintings is generally indeterminate, alluding to water or air with minimal use of perspective and an absence of horizon lines. The paintings are on primed linen on square stretchers, ranging in size from 48" x 48" to 76" x 76". No one meaning predominates, only indefinite environments where strong undercurrents of emotion combine with murky, dream-like atmospheres. Scenes of danger and destruction contribute to a disjointed sense of unease in an unpredictable world. The body of work that comprises Through the Locked Door was displayed in the Jackson Gallery at San Diego State University from April 14th to April 19th, 2012. Images of this thesis project are on file in the School of Art, Design, and Art History at San Diego State University