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Just Because You Carry it Well Doesn’t Mean it isn’t Heavy
A collaborative project with Patricia Davis
Project Project, Omaha, Nebraska
Collaborative Statement
When you meet someone, feel an instant connection, and become fast friends, it’s like you suddenly found the other half of your broken seashell on the beach. That's what happened. We suddenly knew we were on the same wavelength as people and artists. We learned that we love paper, painting, and the best tool/toy boxes of the artworld— drawing and printmaking. As a collaborative duo, we enable each other’s exploration of weird color combinations and obsessive desire to try new materials—always searching for something sparkly or that reticulates. Fascinated with dancing shadows and the ways plants enrich our lives, we bonded over mental health struggles and art geekery. But one of us is more comfortable with words and thankfully, the other is a master of meticulous studio record keeping—always knowing what was mixed together.
In this body of work, we explore a canopy of weirdness based in biomorphic forms, distorted pathways, and internal dialogue.We challenge each other to lean into our struggles and burdens, and use them as fuel that feeds the chaos of the process – cropping, collaging, and slinging concoctions of wet and dry media. What results are complex mixed-media works on paper that pull you in, twirl you around and spit you out upside down, leaving you to wonder, “how the heck did they do that”. Welcome to Dysfunction Junction!
Show Statement
Life is hard. The world tries to convince you otherwise.
Always pushing. Always undermining. Why can’t I handle this? (You can.)
Am I good enough? Do I have enough?
Be small. Whisper. Stay in your fear.
The devil you know…
But there never was a comfort zone….comfort is the illusion.
Waiting for the words to come, they weigh heavily in your throat.
Instead of falling smoothly from your lips, they engulf your body, sending heat to your skin.
They burn as they slide down your cheek.
Red inside, my guts bubble.
These ruminations beneath the surface.
The voice that reminds you.
A feeling that screams.
Begin again and again and again and again…
Try.
Invisible burdens.
How can you hope(?)to resist? Too much, everywhere, all the time.
(How) can you embrace pain? (How) can you accept and move forward?
Sometimes enough is good enough.
And what to do when you’ve had enough? Make it stop.
Heirloom struggles set free....
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to say no.
To hold space for boundaries. To carve your own path. To get lost in the shadows of the unknown.
In the dark times, I am the purpose.
Just because you carry it well doesn't mean it isn't heavy.