Artist Statement

In Contemplation of the Collective Consciousness was inspired by the constant likes and dislikes that people vie for on Facebook. The constant judgments made about people that we don’t know or even events that we don’t truly understand. Yet I constantly hear people say “You are being judgmental.” The word seems overused and misused. I began to consider how we put certain persons on pedestals and others we condemn because of certain criteria of “goodness” , “worthiness” (Mother Teresa, President Obama) and “worthlessness” or “worthy of hate” (President Trump, Cosby, Ellen) that we have set up in our psyche.

So many times we fail to look at the other attributes “good” or “ill” of the people we have already formed our opinions about and nothing else matters since we have “judged” them good or bad. For the most part, the “bad” can never rise to any level of “goodness” and the “good” when they fall remain fallen.

In recent years my work has taken on a spiritual connotation as I delve deeper in to the media and the possibilities of meaning and my faith has been my primary lens. As a Christian, I feel more and more judged as “judgmental” by others whose criteria I do not or will not meet. How does one remain authentic to their core beliefs without being judged? The presumption of imbuing objects with meaning comes down to my experiences, as I observe the world around me, and human behavior. These pieces express my view of the collective consciousness and how I navigate this world through my Christian lens. “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” or as a friend paraphrased recently, “All have fallen short of the grace of good.”

Trappings reflect my fascination with inanimate objects and how we collect these things that “moth and dust” will corrupt and imbue them with meaning so that when they are lost (as in our current situation) we are dismayed.

Weapons of My warfare reflect my desire to utilize the tools that are at my disposal for better interactions, judgments and conclusions.

These pieces are mixed media pieces (pasted paper, encaustic medium and wax transfer) dealing with layers; layers of materials, of process, and of meaning. I focus on classical compositional techniques which require focused juxtapositions of art elements to create that purely formal quality. Research, sketches, photographs and continual mental and spiritual cogitation went into these pieces that have manifested themselves –not as what I imagined them in the beginning, but as what they want to become.

~Niarus Benjamin Walker