My current body of artwork is about sexuality through the use of cute and kitsch figurines and animals as symbols and metaphors for the human condition. I want to address the social and cultural differences of “being gay” in a society that is becoming more accepting of what used to be a scarlet letter only worn in the shadows. I want to examine not only the normative behavior but also the deviant lifestyle. I appropriate and reconstruct these love interests of mine from porcelain, a material that holds a higher standard above other clays, to construct narratives, teapots, and objects that take into consideration gender, identity, and sex through the objective eye of queer theory. By the use of porcelain as the main material, I am making a connection to the history associated to the ceramic medium, specifically the objects and figurines of centuries past.

The kitsch object has been a fascination of mine for many years. Pink flamingoes, garden gnomes, and figurines are my love affairs. The trashiness associated to these mass-produced and mundane objects is what attracts me. In my world, tawdriness and trashy reign supreme above taste and perfection. Cute, being a close cousin to the kitsch family is equally as “trashy” and another of my love interests. It is an attractive beauty that can be associated with youth and innocence, yet the bunnies, butterflies, and beavers can make you sick to your stomach with their smiling, sinister faces. By incorporating sexuality with these objects, it is like watching a car wreck. You don’t want to look, but cannot help to take a peak that turns into a strong gaze that does not let you look away.