PHOTOGRAPHED BY GEORDY PEARSON.Why my materials are different
"Well, within art, anything goes. But, I’m attracted to things that are naturally attractive. Rhinestones reflect light so there’s already a real lurid quality to them before I do anything to them. It’s also exciting and challenging to me to take things that are kitschy and try to transcend their cultural value. That’s where the magic happens, where the material doesn’t change, it’s only in the arrangements and forms that I put them in that allows them to do something different. With these materials, it would be easy for someone to write a piece off, but because of the scale and the amount of craft and labor that goes into it, it pushes it to that next level."
Art is more than what you see
"I was predominately using rhinestones at first, but then I started adding studs on leather as a natural counterbalance — the masculine to the feminine. I’m more interested in trying to take things that are super feminine and make them very strong, not masculine, necessarily, but just more powerful — and vice-versa, taking things that are stereotypically masculine and infusing more of a sensitivity or a feminine value. It’s interesting to play and push something in a direction that it’s not accustomed to being in — to make it even more powerful and undeniable."
What beauty means to me
"I like to create pieces that overwhelm the viewing field, so it has a very physical relationship to a person. Beauty is an experience that takes you out of your normal everyday routine to transport you someplace else even for just a brief moment. It’s something that shocks you and makes life seem magical or special for a moment."
What I do to feel glamorous
“I usually go for really smoky, dark eyes and, of course, red lips. You can roll out of bed in your pajamas and throw on a red lipstick and you’ve got your shit together.”
