My Father's Son, MFA Exhibition

           How do we evaluate the weight of expectation? As a child, I felt influenced to adopt favorable traits from my parents and mentors. Rationalizing my behavior through other’s reactions in order to gain an understanding of what it means to fulfill my role, in turn shaping my personal identity through these exchanges. The defining characteristics that play into whether I contribute to society or become self-centered. How I act and deal with loss. How I treat others. The accumulation forms constraints around my personality, becoming the weight and pressure of expectation, hindering my own personal development.

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          The embedded objects in my new work signify notions of masculinity and establish meaning through their associations with my own childhood, with my own coming of age. These are objects that remind me of feelings and influences throughout my life. These objects inform the foundation and framework of what constitutes my personal ideas of manhood. For better or worse, these are the parts I’m made of. Reconciling these embedded archetypes with a desire to forge my own particular path to who I am today, my father’s son.