The French idiom mesonges pieux  (pious lies) was the starting point for the installation White Lies & Prayers.  Lying involves the intent to deceive, but a white or pious lie is often told to protect someone from a truth, which could be painful.

The 166 White Lies, corporeal in nature, are arranged in an open grid, formal and contained.  This structure creates a visual representation of the adage “one lie begets another”.  Images are repeated throughout the grid in different combinations, addressing the idea that once a lie is told, we’re often doomed to repeat it, over and over and over again, to support the labyrinthian tale that it generates.

The Prayers, antidotes to the lies, are like ethereal spirits, organic and free form. Floating as high as 12’ feet above the fracas, figures, insects and fragmented body parts are both solemn and fanciful.  Standing as larger-than-life sentinels, eight foot tall dresses, both Guardian Angels and surrogates, attempt to repel the effects of the sometimes elaborate lies we tell in order to diffuse their potential threats.

When I appropriate material, it is the patina of history they possess that is meaningful to me.  Then, I strive to reinvent this material, putting it into new contexts, altering parts in various ways, burying the past to create a new present.  Within the whole mélange, my personal history, popular culture and art historical references collide.  I am the inventor, bricollaging detritus from my own and other worlds, pinning together elements from real life and fabricated stories in order to be both physically involved and emotionally connected to my work, and attuned to my inner life.