Venus Williams ($700)

3 x 4 feet oil on canvas

This painting shows Venus Williams in two very different lights. On top she is powerful and muscular and focused on her sport. On the bottom, she poses seductively with weaker looking arms. Another fascinating quality is that her skin tone is much lighter when she is sexualized. This implies our culture still values lighter skin tones in terms of conventional beauty.

Rower's Back ($300)

2 x 4 feet oil on canvas

This is a portrait from a photograph a fellow artist and friend took. Rowers are notorious for developing strong back muscles. I wanted to create an image that would be semi nude yet still powerful. Here, vulnerability and sexuality are not the key players. Instead, power, strength and tension all come together in a female form.

Amanda Beard ($850)
44 x 52 inches Oil on Canvas

I created this portrait of Amanda Beard to show the contrast between her as a swimmer (on the right) and her posing for Playboy (on the left). This is the first canvas I have made that contains both forms of imagery. One can quickly see the differences between the two. On the left she appears less athletic and much more vulnerable, while on the right she is completely engaged in her sport and powerful.

"Rower's Hand" ($300)
30x40 inches oil on canvas

This painting is a portrait of my own hand during peak rowing season. It shows the layers and folds of hard earned blisters I developed while adapting to the grip of the oar. I added long acrylic nails to my hand to display the contrast between a sport specific behavior and what society asks women to do to maintain an appealing external image. The contrast is almost comical yet it speaks to a deeper issue surrounding the conflicting values with which female athletes contend. Developing rough hands and large muscles makes a female rower stronger at her sport, and thus raises her status in the athletic world. However, when she confronts broader societal standards she immediately finds messages that she is contradicting expectations of her gender. Her skin quickly becomes too rough and her muscles become too large and intimidating for society to accept.

Olympians

30x40 inches oil on canvas

This painting is based off the cover of FHM magazine's "Sexy Olympic Special." The athletes displayed include Logan Tom (Volley Ball), Amanda Beard (Swimming), Haley Cope (Swimming), Jenny Adams (100M Hurdles), and Amy Acuff (High Jump). Not only are all of the women confirming a heterosexual male gaze by staring back at the viewer in a sultry manner, but the way they are seductively posed implies they are willing to have sex with each other for male enjoyment. Since when are these standards a female athlete should be representing? This imagery greatly contrasts with an earlier piece I did called "Winning Point" that shows two female athletes embracing out of joy and team camaraderie. I also wonder if it is coincidental they are wearing white bikinis just like Maria Sharapova was on the cover of sports illustrated. The white shows a virginal quality. Here these strong athletes directly mold into a stereotypical ideal of a sexually curious virgin lusting after male approval.

Boxed In ($900)

4x5 feet oil on canvas

I based this painting off of a small image of Maya Moore on the cover of a Sacramento Newspaper. I enlarged the fist sized newspaper version of her to a commanding four by five foot black and white composition. I wanted to give her a physical presence. Her muscles ripple as she screams. Her voice, though not audible from a painting, is very important. It represents the voice female athletes obtain. In a lot of advertising campaigns women cover their mouths with their hands or have their mouths closed. Women are frequently visually silenced in such imagery. Here, a strong woman yells to her fellow teammate commanding attention.

Pretty Poses Series

8x10 inches oil on canvas

Pretty Poses ($50/piece)

30 x 28 in oil on canvas

While I was giving a presentation for a sociology class about my work, one of the students asked me what I thought about gymnastics. After some consideration I realized there are extreme differences between the postures of male and female gymnasts. Often female gymnasts must smile and perform. I went to a gymnastics competition at UCLA where I observed a common move for the floor routine was butt shaking to the music. It seems comical to imagine a male gymnast doing the same, but painfully normal to think of a female gymnast looking cute for the judges. This series of portraits focuses on the postures female gymnasts take on during their routines that contain an element of sex appeal or prettiness.

Pro Tennis

2x3 ft oil on canvas

I based this portrait off a photo in Playboy of professional tennis player Ashley Harkleroad.  The article in the issue described her in the least threatening way possible: "The blonde, blue-eyed Ashley is five-foot five, petite and possessed of  a sweetness acquired while growing up in small town Georgia."  When asked about her competition Harkleroad replies, "Other girls on the tour have arms like tree trunks. But I'm just me." In both quotations one sees a certain cookie cutter ideal of a female athlete.  She is non threatening, caucasian, blonde, and maintains a petite figure despite years of her life dedicated to training and competing.  The phrase "Other girls" sticks out in Harkleroad's quote.  She separates herself from her fellow female athletes, and in doing so casts them in a negative light that is far from her "more acceptable" heterosexy image.  By saying "I'm just me" Harkleroad emphasizes her normalcy and targets bulkier female athletes as abnormally built or defined.  

Gymnasts

30 x 40 inches Oil on Canvas

I based this painting off an image I found in an article about anorexia and gymnastics.  My immediate frustration was the pairing of sexual, almost humorous, imagery to depict a serious topic.  This painting intends to highlight the forced male gaze that accompanies sports viewing.  The female athletes here are being photographed and packaged like cheerleaders on a side line.  Reducing the shot to strictly a sexual body part further objectifies and dehumanizes the athletes.  

Winning Point (SOLD)

3 x 4 feet Oil on Canvas

This painting serves as an example of female companionship through sport. My previous paintings show clear physical separation between athletes while this one shows the lack of physical boundaries and raw emotions. One of the main threatening qualities a female team presents to the male sports hierarchy is the strength that comes with female unity. Here women find joy and fulfillment through their own strength and ability instead of vicariously through observing men playing sports. An interesting contradiction this painting highlights is the contrast between the skirt and the mouth guard. The antiquated femininity of the skirt contrasts with the raw functionality of the rest of the uniform and especially with the mouth guards.

Focus (SOLD)

2 x 3 feet Oil on Canvas

I created this painting to demonstrate mental toughness and determination in a female athlete. I wanted to keep the emphasis on the mind of the athlete, which comes across through her subtle but powerful facial expression.

Comic pen on paper ($50)

This comic intends to comment on the importance of messages sent to young girls about their bodies and their athleticism. Though it seems slightly anachronistic, and perhaps that it could be found in a magazine from the 1950's, I wanted to call attention to the root of perceptions we still hold as a society today. The ridiculous advice the mother gives her daughter is an exaggerated reflection of the general social current with regards to women's sports today. I used a young girl because her innocence reflects a pure notion about sports that has not yet been warped and made illogical by a male dominated sports hierarchy.

"Self Portrait" ($300)
3x5 feet oil on canvas

This painting, like others I have done of rowers shows the female athlete focused and absorbed in her sport. It was an interesting task to create a self portrait because it forced me to observe the muscular and physicality of my own body from an unbiased perspective. The large scale of the work gives the figure more authority and command.

Comic Pen on Paper ($50)

The obvious discrepancy between male and female volleyball players begs the question, why must women wear more revealing uniforms? Why not have men wear speedos? How much of the attraction to female volleyball is for the sport and how much is for the spectacle of a semi nude woman? In short, I wanted to have a character ask a question that would generate more questions and debate. Sometimes stating the obvious elicits a much needed conversation about issues some would rather ignore or trivialize.

Pair 2x4 feet Acrylic on Canvas ---SOLD

This is a portrait I created of myself and my pair partner. I used strong color combinations and thick brush strokes to heighten the intensity of the painting. This piece is meant to contrast with the common sexualized visual imagery of female athletes. It accomplishes this through emphasis on strength and athletic purpose.

Female Basketball Player (SOLD)
30x48 in acrylic on canvas

In this painting I wanted to capture the intensity and presence a female athlete possesses. I sought to accomplish this through the composition and body posture of the figure, the direct confrontational gaze with witch she confronts the audience, and through the use of bold brush strokes and strong colors. Through this style I hoped to capture a quality in athletic women that the camera misses.

I created the following artworks in reaction to the overwhelming amount of sexism in sports media (sports magazines, sports commentary, conservative talk radio, and TV coverage of sports).  Today, female athletes all too often receive more attention for their "sexiness" than their athletic prowess.  I am both a college athlete and an artist at USC and the athletes I workout with everyday are far from the images of female athletes gracing the covers of popular publications like Playboy, Shape, and Fitness.  Modern female athletes are strong, independent, hard working, and work out for the sake of sport, not for the sake of looking attractive for the heterosexual male gaze.  The emphasis placed on sexual appeal reinforces preexisting notions that a woman's sexual attractiveness supersedes her talents, goals, strengths and ambitions.  I intend to show gender inequities through the eyes of the female athlete.  She is a specific window through which I am examining a broader issue.  

I have explored this concept with a variety of mediums including paintings, drawings, comics, collages, and graphic compositions.  My paintings often heroicize the female athletic figure through bold compositions.  These large oil and acrylic portraits of female athletes demonstrate their musculature, strength, and mental focus.  The comics I create serve as direct social commentary on the inequities women face when entering the athletic world.  I have also employed the use of graphic compositions and collages to incorporate the widespread sexualized imagery of the female athlete into a critical dialogue.  Through this range of two dimensional artworks, I am able to communicate the complexity of the issues surrounding gender and sport.

It is important to note that my artwork does not seek to attack female athletes who have promoted themselves through sexualized imagery like Amanda Beard, Amy Acuff, Danika Patrick, or Maria Sharapova. On the contrary, my work is intended to question the very existence of a system where their posing and exploitation is possible and financially attractive.  I hope that my artworks on this subject will initiate a crucial dialogue about the modern female athlete.  With these steps towards consideration of the female athlete beyond a sex object, perhaps women will be able to professionally succeed in sports without having to bare it all.  

Comic, pen on paper ($50)

When going to a sports bar or strip club, men can expect to see traditional gender roles. The dominant male athlete glows on the screens of all the tvs while the female athlete will only find herself represented in an objectified and sexualized form. This comic intends to show that a man cannot support women's sports while objectifying them. The Al character realized he cannot look at female tennis players the same because his daughter, a female figure in his life who he respects and wants to see equal opportunities for, is now also a tennis player. His friends remain absurdly in the dark and continue to promote an antiquated view of women in sports.

"Female Body Builder" ($100)
18x24 inches, ink on paper

This ink drawing of a female body builder calls attention to the androgyny of the female athletic form. Her muscular body contradicts strongly held notions of male athletic superiority over women. She blurs gender lines and in doing so makes the viewer slightly uncomfortable. I want the viewer to recognize this discomfort and question why it is there. What issues do we all have with the idea of a strong, muscular women?

"Female Weightlifter" ($300)
30x40 inches acrylic on canvas

The active brush strokes and bold colors in this painting intend to support the strength and power of the female athlete. Like the image above of a female body builder, this weightlifter blurs distinctions between male and female athletic ability. She shows the power and strength women can posses as athletes. Her state of mind is also extremely focused on the task at hand. I want the viewer to see the mental and physical strength that lies in female athletes through this painting.

"Sexy Sporty Little Things" 4x8 inches

After the U.S. Women won the world cup a majority of media attention focused on Brandy Chastain removing her shirt in celebration.  This is a direct example of the prominence a woman's sexuality still holds over her athletic achievement.  This fake clothing tag serves to critique the ridiculous amount of attention paid to a female athlete's bra and to mock the sports clothing lines in Victoria's Secret.  It is easy to find skimpy workout clothes and sports bras that can provide cleavage in any situation.  When exhibited in a gallery setting, the tag will be attached to a rack of sports bras to create the illusion of a  fake brand.  

"Preparation" 3x4 feet oil on canvas ----SOLD

This oil painting captures the moment right before the race. I am aesthetically attracted to the variety of positions and postures athletes take on when they mentally prepare for the trials ahead. One cannot ignore the musculature of these female figures. Because they are turned away and focused on their sport they avoid giving the viewer the satisfaction of a sexually confirming female gaze.

"Female Arms" (SOLD)
18x24 inches graphite on paper

When most viewers confront this painting they assume it is a combination of male and female arms. After reading the title they see they are mistaken. I intend to demonstrate the variety of female physiology through this drawing and to undermine notions that women cannot obtain upper body strength. Many female athletes feel insecure about their large muscles because they feel less feminine. Through this work I want to show that having strong arms is a feminine quality.

"In Contemplation of a Race" 3x6 ft oil on canvas
(Donated to USC Rowing)

This painting shows rowers after a race. The viewer sees both the mind and muscle of the athlete here because of the obvious musculature of the women and the focused gazes they possess. The large scale of the canvas also heroicizes the athletes. I like using paint to portray female athletes because large paintings take on an immediate physical presence and give credibility and importance to their subject matter. This piece is meant to be a counter argument to the painting below of Maria Sharapova.

"Female Tennis Player" 3x6 ft oil on canvas

I based this painting off of the cover from a Sports Illustrated calendar showcasing Maria Sharapova.  Originally the composition was flipped so her head was on the right.  I altered this to reference Titian's Venus of Urbino.  Titian, and multitudes of other male painters, often painted female figures as empty beautiful vessels that return an encouraging look to the heterosexual male gaze.  Female depictions throughout history rarely revealed women in action and we see remnants of this device in the photographic portrayal of women in the media today.  By creating a parallel painting to Titian's work I want to highlight the historical roots of the issues behind the misrepresentation of women in sports.  

Comic, pen on paper ($50)

In the 2008 Olympics female ping pong players noticed that their sport drew very low numbers. Sports officials, recognizing that women's sports with skimpier clothes like volleyball and tennis draw more crowds, suggested that women's ping pong change alter their uniforms to be sexier. This comic mocks the fact that the knee jerk response to fewer numbers is more skin.

"Bench Pull" ($600)
3x4 ft oil on canvas

This is another example of a painting that highlights the strength and musculature female athletes can build. This painting is a self portrait. As a rower I often perform this exercise to strengthen the finish and send off of the stroke. The content of this work, a sport specific training exercise that strengthens forearms and biceps, helps support the idea that female athletes workout to become better competitors. Women, like men, like sports, enjoy overcoming pain, and want to push themselves to their limits. Images like this greatly contrast with the common portrayal of female athletes as weak, sexy objects, ready to be swept away by their strong male counterparts.

"Female Body Builder" ($100)
18x24 inches, ink on paper

This ink drawing intends to put the viewer in a slightly uncomfortable position. The figure has the V-Shape of a defined muscular male but her hair and her breast peeking over her rib cage confirms her gender as a female. Female athletes are often chastised for having too much muscle. I want the viewer to consider the cultural beauty norms female athletes crush when they defy the amount of musculature that is acceptable for women. I also want the viewer to consider the implications of these limits when analyzing gender inequities in sports culture.

"Diana" ($350)
2x3 feet oil on canvas

This black and white painting serves as an example of the real female athlete. The subject portrayed here contradicts the commonly propagated images of female athletes as sex objects. This figure is strong, determined and focused. I used black and white paint to further emphasize her action. The elimination of color allows the viewer to pay full attention to the physicality of the rowing motion being depicted.

WNBA regulation sized basketball 29" Left

NBA regulation sized basketball 29.75" Right ($200)
1x2 feet oil on wood panel

While researching this topic, I came across an unusual distinction between the regulation sizes for basketball sizes in the WNBA and the NBA. Trivial seeming distinctions like this promote an overall sense of female athletic achievement as being somehow less important or significant. I also became fascinated with the juxtaposition of two very different women on one court. On the left, in the women's sized ball, you see the strong female basketball player. On the right, in the male sized ball you see the typical "Laker Girl." The contrast between the two heightens their differences in achievement and purpose. Furthermore, the distinction in circle size parallels the inequities between attention paid to female accomplishment and female appearance.

Comic, pen on paper

I gained inspiration for this comic after reading about the connection between sports terms and terms used to objectify and victimize women.  Terms like player, playing the field, score, hit that, and 4th base all create a scenario where the man is the active agent using his physical power to dominate a situation with a woman.  

"Everyday Athletes" 1x2 feet, collage and paint on wood

As a female athlete, I find myself very frustrated with the overall visual imagery in popular women's sports magazines.  All too often a model, not an athlete is supposed to demonstrate an ideal athletic build for a woman.  I noticed a homogeneity in the types of women represented.  They are usually slim, Caucasian, and have little to no muscle definition.  Ads for workout companies like Bowflex often show the man working out while a woman is supporting him.  This occurs in the collage where the woman sits smiling on the man's back while he does push ups or stands gazing with admiration at him while he does pull ups.  This dynamic reinforces the role of men in sports as active agents and women in sports and spectators or cheerleaders.  There is an image in here where the man is supporting the woman, however her cleavage focuses the viewer on her sexuality instead of her strength. 

"Star Athletes" 16x20 inches, collage on wood

This collage shows the problematic absorption of female athletes into celebrity culture.  Athletes like Amanda Beard, Anna Kournekova, Maria Sharapova, and Danicka Patrick have all become "Star Athletes."  This is not to say they have the same connotations as the terms Joe Montana, or Tiger Woods.  They are not stars for their athletic accomplishment when they are absorbed into the greater celebrity culture.  They must fit themselves into a preexisting marketable, and heteronormative role in order to gain public appeal and approval.  It frustrates me that it is easier for a female athlete to make the cover of Sports Illustrated by wearing her bikini than by winning Olympic medals.  

Comic, pen on paper ($50)

I created this comic to question why a female athlete should have to concern herself with her appearance in order to achieve monetary success. Amy Acuff, an Olympic high jumper who posed for Playboy, exemplifies this by saying, "Playboy publicity helped the team secure training facilities and a coach. My chances are the best they can possibly be and Playboy has a part in that."