My interest is in how to deal with the increasing absence of nature and the replacement of its natural expression with an artificially created world of media and materialism. My intention is not to place judgment or criticism, but rather, subjectively express what it is like to be a part of this popular culture over which I have no control, but am helping to create. With the use of magazine cutouts and personal photographs, I am inventing a world that challenges my ability to control the way it is perceived and to make sense of the overload of imagery that has been piled on my subconscious.
Growing up in New England, I was surrounded by an abundance of nature. I learned to recognize the forest as a sign of peace, and have always equated the changing of seasons, through the changing of the leaves, with changes in human mood and expression. This relationship between nature and emotion has inspired numerous leaf studies and has dominated most of my artistic endeavors until this point.
A subject of more recent interest resonates in the depiction of human interaction and relationships through a more literal means. Through the vessels of television, magazines, posters, and store windows, popular culture is being fed to me with every subconscious glance. I am provided with pre-made images which, in someway, influence my perception of human encounters and ultimately human expression. It has been implied that the possession of material objects will bring the possessor control of their own state of being and the way it is perceived by others. I have used these pre-made images as the material with which to construct pictures that embody my personal perception of the culture in which I live.
-Nicole Handel
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