Gemstones, Bodies, and Flaws

Lately, one of my inspirations has come directly from nature. I have been very interested in rocks. What I love about rocks, is that the more they are flawed, the more interesting they are. People tend to value flawless things, like diamonds with no visible inclusions. For me, after spending 8 years selling diamonds in a retail setting, I have grown tired of them. Yes, they twinkle, sparkle, and shine, but in their perfection, they do not have the same character as stones with internal “flaws”. In people, I also find the flaws more interesting. Bodies are meant to differ, just as stones are, and I want to present the flaws in both to a world that tends to mistakenly demand perfection. I have explored flaws in three ways of late: I have used gemstones, directly on canvas; made gemstone bracelets; and created paintings of bodies.

Gemstone Geometry – 6×6 – $30

Gemstone Sides – 6×6 – $30

Gemstone Wall – 6×6 – $30

Gemstone Sunrise – 6×12 – $60

Gemstone Tree – 6×12 – $60

Gemstone Sunset – 6×12 – $60

Gemstone Sun and Moon – 8×24 – $175

The Middle Path – 8×24 – $175

Bodies, just like gemstones, are more interesting, and in my perspective more beautiful, when they are not all the same. The first two images are inspired by beautiful bodies that are altered and manipulated in order to rob them of their true beauty to force them into a mold that they do not belong in. Both women are looking, without eyes, at the parts of their bodies that are being pixelated or “airbrushed”, a process that is often used in all types of media to impact the value of bodies in culture. The third painting, is a woman, made of wood, in parts. The intention of this piece is not morbidity, but instead a metaphor, for how it feels, how it hardens the heart and everything else, to be reduced to a pile of parts. We are more than that.