Duncan's Donuts

I'm generally interested in current day political issues, design in the everyday world and where it could be improved, music, urban planning/architecture, and a multitude of other things (cop-out, I know!). I'd say some of my core beliefs are fairness, reliability, an experience-oriented life, a spirit of adventure, curiosity, openness, rationality, efficiency, respect, and loyalty. Something somewhat silly I feel passionate about are roundabouts- I feel like they would solve so many efficiency problems in the US if only we would be more open to them in concept and execution. On a more serious note, I also feel passionately against guns and the proliferation of them in American culture- it's yet again an efficiency and protection for those who are vulnerable to make common sense reforms to gun laws in the US, but the desires of the few somehow continue to overwhelm the concerns of the many. Something that may also work is my feelings towards horoscopes and birth signs- I fe...

When I think of propaganda, and successful propaganda, my immediate thought is the work of the soviet union, like this: It makes use primarily of red to draw your eyes initially to the image of Russia, and eventually to the the bow on Lenin's lapel. The image is highly active, with strong action lines in Lenin's arm and the worker holding the torch, along with the motion lines coming out from the star (which generally lead backwards, conveying the message of moving forwards). Obviously Soviet Propaganda was successful in that it is not only remembered today, but also informs how modern propaganda is made. It does this through clear, concise messages that are brief in order to be quickly read and viewed on the go and understood with a quick glance. Striking colors (though typically limited) make the entire image a focal point, and the viewer's attention is then directed to the propagandizer's targets through uses of the main color as an accent.  A more modern ...

Going into this critique, I was cautiously excited to show off my work and see where everyone else had been with theirs. As we approached the 9pm deadline and there were multiple people still queued up to show their work, I became nervous that I wouldn't make it up and instead of feeling relieved as I normally do when a deadline is pushed back, I was...tense. I take that as a sign that I was truly proud of my work and ready to show it off. So when a week later came and I got my time in the spotlight, I was so happy with the feedback I got! I had some concepts in my work that I was worried wouldn't come through or had been too obfuscated for people to pick up on. Instead, almost every concept I tried to communicate was picked up on by the audience and I couldn't have been happier! There were even interpretations of my art that I didn't intend, which I loved as well. All in all it was a great experience and I hope to use the feedback I received to carry my art forward i...

Between the Mirrors, 2019 Between the Mirrors  is an examination of the self in the age of digitized personas and the identity as formed by consumption and not creation. It uses the digital nature of photoshop to subvert and play with the expectations of the selfie and the idea of what is real, what is imagined, and where we stand in the between. I sought to distill that feeling of being in between worlds; in between artificial contentment and the pitfalls of reality through the visual metaphor of mirrors. Outside the box I have been placed in lie distorted visions of self-fulfillment and social adoration, yet my physical self is restrained like Tantalus, able only to view these twisted versions of reality through the lens of my phone, which is the only thing able to move between the artificial and real worlds. Meanwhile reflected in the virtual mirror is my self, dissected into the checkmarks and quantifiers that represent my digital identity.

Artist's Statement: In its current form, this self portrait is part vomit of distilled personality traits, and part unrefined ideas of my greater id, ego, and superego. I wanted to establish a sense of dichotomy between aspects of the image- separating the faceless head with its chart brut style of representation from the more subtle 'fig' leaf and heart in my hand; separating the image between the mirrors from the mirror worlds of unrealistic, filtered happiness, with the cutout phone being the perceived key and link between the two.