artist statement:

Gothic Nostalgia is a reflection on an essay written in a literature class that analyzes the works of French poet Charles Baudelaire and American musician Mark Linkous; two artists who produced hauntingly beautiful work. In this piece, ideation is embraced as the product. It materializes historical research, eureka moments, and suffering from mental illness as a means to be examined.

I believe that this piece is a representation of my current fine art style as an artist inspired by gothic and grunge aesthetics with a childlike curiosity. I wanted to represent the exhausted efforts we make in order to draw conclusions and make connections when writing academic essays. While formatting sentences, researching subjects, and organizing information, our minds become layered with images and texts that become a whole new entity. I wanted to materialize this entity, and allow viewers to interact with it to be analyzed, interpreted, and examined. By doing this, a whole new process is created by the viewer.

Mixed media collage, mailing envelopes, printed academic essay, bookbinding needle, manila folder