Surv - EYE - Val

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Surv - EYE - Val is my Washington State University Bachelor of Fine Art body of work. These works fuse abstraction, cartoon imagery, and the raw energy of street art to process how media, capitalism, and constant spectacle shape perception and identity. Influenced by cartoons that taught me creativity, relationships, and the idea that things aren’t always what they seem, I use exaggerated, Muppet-like figures and bold color to walk the line between humor and unease. I began seriously developing my practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, as political unrest and social tension pushed their way into the work, distorting bodies, stretching eyes, and amplifying emotion. Through aggressive mark-making and intuitive material choices, I explore themes of surveillance, self-awareness, and shifting realities by using abstraction to strip away surfaces and expose the tension between chaos and structure beneath what we see.