Ingrown // 24" X 60" // Oil on canvas — **Ingrown //** 24" X 60" // Oil on canvas

Fatal Separation // 26" X 48" and 26" X 18" // Oil on canvas — **Fatal Separation //** 26" X 48" and 26" X 18" // Oil on canvas

What is the contemporary Western human urge to separate/deny/disassociate ourselves from other animals? I emphasize the body versus the mind as it is a constructed binary that distinguishes humans--the "intellectual" animal--from other animals, who are mere bodily creatures. The human's body merges and becomes indistinguishable amongst the fleshy terrain, while his/her head has been separated from the body, and in isolated agony.

Rejecting the Anima // 22" X 10" // Oil on canvas — **Rejecting the Anima //** 22" X 10" // Oil on canvas

"Anima" is the root word of animal, meaning "soul, life" yet this inner soul is what we continually deny of animals. Our rejection of the inner life of other animals, has also meant the rejection of the animal soul within us. Here, I depict the struggle to remove this essential part of us, and in the later iterations, I depict the lifelessness of the figure once he/she has removed the interior animal soul.

24" X 18"// Oil on canvas — 24" X 18"// Oil on canvas

12" X 7" // Intaglio print, hard ground etching and aquatint, — 12" X 7" // Intaglio print, hard ground etching and aquatint,

11" X 12" // Intaglio print, hard ground etching, drypoint and aquatint

9" X 13" // Lithography print with water color, — 9" X 13" // Lithography print with water color,

6.5" X 4" // Oil paint, acylic skin, paper and string, — 6.5" X 4" // Oil paint, acylic skin, paper and string,

10" X 12.5"// Oil on paper — 10" X 12.5"// Oil on paper

8.5" X 6" // Intaglio print, mezzotint, — 8.5" X 6" // Intaglio print, mezzotint,

56" X 48" // Oil on panel — 56" X 48" // Oil on panel

Overcoming Apathy // 24" X 18" // Oil on canvas — **Overcoming Apathy //** 24" X 18" // Oil on canvas

Oily Ignorance // 16" X 18" // Oil on canvas — **Oily Ignorance** // 16" X 18" // Oil on canvas

The Flayed Ones // 48" X 40" // Oil on canvas. — **The Flayed Ones //** 48" X 40" // Oil on canvas.

In reading about an Aztec god who flayed himself in order to save humanity, I was captured by the symbolism of skin as a sign of sacrifice and an exterior wall that separates us from one another. In this piece the human figure sheds the skin of his ego, signifying renewal, and comes forward to join with the animal. The expressions and gestures of the figures show their mutual reconciliation and healing. As a sign of rebirth, sacrifice, and the perceived difference between individuals, skin and the removal of it can be evocative in asking us to consider our own ability to sacrifice.