Artist's Statement
My creative work includes both drawing and photography, which have become directly intertwined over the years. I constantly look to immerse myself in nature, as I specifically find the beach to be healing and grounding, a place of rest and reset, to clear my head when life becomes overwhelming.
Over the years, I have spent a great deal of time on the shorelines closest to my home in Long Island, studying and taking photos of the ocean’s movements, cloud formations and the effects of sunlight on these two natural aesthetics. I am fascinated by the way light shifts from midafternoon, to golden hour, sunset and blue hour and how a landscape can inherently change under different lighting conditions. When editing my digital images, I strive to keep them as natural looking as possible by simply straightening the horizon and sharpening the image. My goal is to capture a moment of serenity, allowing myself and the viewer to take a therapeutic breath.
My photographs become direct references for large scale charcoal drawings ranging between two to eight feet in height and width. My goal once again is to preserve the moment in time; however the drawings are never exact replicas of the photo. Instead, the drawing I create becomes a transformation of my present mood, as well as a blurry representation of the memory in my mind. I am drawn to the monochromatic palette, often working solely in black and white or one color with grayscale values. The chosen palette gives my drawings a feeling of timelessness, like old black and white photos, that in turn enhances my idea to preserve bits and pieces of my memories.
Photo by Vincent Alongi