Looking at a sonogram image can be like looking through a perforated screen. The image of a child may become perfectly clear in a moment, then lost in static in the next. Before my daughter was born her placenta detached form the uterus, and as a result many sonograms were made to monitor her progress. In response to these images I began a series of prints and drawings that explore this concept of thinking about the unknown while looking at coded or veiled information. In these works an equally familiar and confusing object is a surrogate for the pre-born child, and peripheral information seeks to attract a sense of context. In all of these images there is an interest in the absurd, the unnoticed, the unfathomable, and an unconscious wisdom.

This body of work is a re-investment in the process of drawing as thinking. With each of these images I try to generate questions instead of making statements. I try to work in a state that oscillates between resolving clarity of form and ambiguity of meaning. The large drawings are achieved through layers of methodical marks, appropriated patterns, and stenciled veils of translucent color. These images explore my subconscious hopes, fears, musings, and observations; the work is always one step ahead of my near comprehension. While these images are specifically compelling to my personal experience and relationships, they also aim to be a curious space to provoke the precarious quality of looking into a place where questions are born.

born: 1974, California

education

University of South Dakota, MFA, 2001
University of Dallas, BA, 1997

selected awards/honors

Faculty Research Fellowship, the University of North Texas, 2009
Juror's Award, Sustainable Source, Longwood University Gallery, 2008
Purchase Award, 20th University of Dallas National Print Invitational Exhibition, 2008
Purchase Award, Janet Turner Print National Exhibiton, Janet Turner Print Museum, CA, 2006

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Premature Guessing, New Works by Andrew DeCaen, Cedar Valley College, Lancaster, TX, 2008
Boxed Nature, Studio Gallery, Brookhaven College, Dallas, TX 2008
Habit of Nutrition, E. J. Bellocq Gallery, School of Art, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA, 2005
Food For Thought, Association for Visual Artists Gallery, Chattanooga, TN, 2004

selected group shows

32nd Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Bradley University Gallery, Peoria, IL, 2009
Naestved International Print Exhibition, Ronneebaeksholm Arts and Culture Center, Naestved, Denmark, 2008
7th Lessedra World Art Print Annual Mini Print 2008, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2008
Sixty Square Inches, 16th Biennial North American Small Print Competition, Stewart Center Gallery, Purdue University, Lafayette IN, 2008