Venus Williams

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.

Amanda Beard
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"
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.

Boxed In

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

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.

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.  

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.