The scenic un•real

My immersive print-based installations rearrange and re-contextualize human-made depictions of Nature. These works unmask the facsimile, the artificial, the dream-image of Nature that exists as Other, particularly within American culture. Nature as a concept is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “opposed to humans or human creations,” and this definition of Nature-as-a-world-apart is implicit in much of the Western canon of art and media. The stories we tell about Nature augment our perception of the world around us. In the context of the Anthropocene, I feel an uneasiness regarding depictions of Nature within capitalist society due to the growing realization that our worldviews regarding the biosphere have not served us well.

In my work, botanical designs and landscape paintings are exaggerated to the point of parody, clamoring with a cacophony of Nature that verges on oversaturated kitsch. The inspiration for these works includes William Morris wallpaper, plastic houseplants, the Hudson River School, Astroturf, silk flowers, and snow globes. Dripping with saccharine superficiality, kitsch imagery echoes pre-existing tropes without apology. Any sincere depiction of our environment that attempts to break with the false duality of human-made/non-human would dissolve its own meaning in attempting to describe all of reality, from snails to sidewalks to HDTVs. Thus, the only way I am confident in my ability to discuss Nature without hypocrisy is through romantic irony: an awareness that my depictions of Nature are unconvincing.