Artist’s Statement
Artist’s Thesis Statement:
The potential of being exposed to harm, danger, and violence as well as other negative issues such as depression, loneliness, and disease are a part of everyday life. My paintings are meant to be metaphorical representations of the times, moments, and issues in our lives that we ignore, don’t talk about, forget, repress, or see falsely on the surface of our memories. Both adults and children are subject to these and other negative or abject things and witness them to some degree on a daily basis. It can easily be argued that some of this exposure is necessary to live and function in society. However, it seems that there are so many of these negative things in our daily lives that most people don’t even realize or notice them due to having developed a strong degree of numbness to it all. My art brings an awareness of these negative aspects to viewers, while also encouraging a deeper look at other facets of life as well. I achieve this by using toys in ambiguous, serious, abject, and unsettling situations normally associated with real life, causing the viewer’s psychology to play with the art’s meaning. In this way, I am able to exploit the human brain’s natural tendency to anthropomorphize, or give human “life” to non-human, non-living things. Toys, childhood, bright colors, and nostalgic elements are all usually seen positively and warrant certain expectations from people although, like many things in life, a deeper meaning can be found if people allow themselves to take the time to notice. I use my knowledge of such positive tendencies and associations along with contrasting darkness, images, drama and artistic elements such as composition to get viewers to look deeper into the art and their own psyches.
Tim Kranz
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