khmer rouge #3 Drawing

american, born in Italy 1976 My work is similar to looking through a blurred window. It is difficult to determine who or what is truly peering back at us, yet we are drawn to approach the unclear image, to move closer. With each step the focus becomes clearer. Even when we are near enough to reach out and trace the lines that define the image, we must challenge our visual perception and draw from our life experiences to interpret the meaning. By making or viewing art about the atrocities of our past, we have the ability to buffer the shock of the original experience. This self- induced amnesia creates a cocoon, which protects our emotional well being and mental health. The art becomes the blurred glass that distorts the historic human cruelty and indifference, allowing us to safely approach the reality. Each painting's unsettling visual narrative is an intimate dialogue with each ghost-like excerpt of history, a sad tale from history. The visual representation of these incidents requires the viewer to create his or her own clear understanding of life and the human condition. No one positive experience can remove layers of historical fog. Addiction to sensory stimulation in all aspects of our present daily routines (as well as idle entertainment) have done irreparable damage to our ability to display compassion. Without new experiential dialogue future generations of media desensitized intellectuals may experience the human condition only through factual text devoid of interpersonal understanding through a lens of apathy?