The title Exuviae first came about in 2018 with a series of experiments of acrylics poured in plastic, folded, and then applied to a white canvas. I wasn't delighted with their animal alikeness form as it was a shock revealing a shamanic essence of my art practice. These paintings reveal to me that I create, first and foremost, for myself, but whatever I have been living, it was also lived by many since myself is also the whole. These paintings are deeply personal, and I have had difficulty showing them.
At the end of 2019 beginning of 2020, I continue having revelatory dreams about animals and insects losing their skin and regenerating, especially the salamander. In hermetic alchemical theory, salamanders represent the element and spirit of fire. The work started as a study of duality combining material, signs, symbols, and layering. I used wax and fire to manipulate the structure of the paper, and the paintings started to look like skins.
After several years of looking at the paintings, they reveal a profound transformation in the celestial and earth planes making material-visible to me that everything is interconnected.
As we have noticed, there is a program to manipulate the natural inflow of awareness by consuming ideologies, diverting attention, and limiting introspection. Art is an opportunity to bring me back into subjectivity. In creating this moment for myself, I'm making it for the viewer.