Our “self” is affected by people around us. The human need to belong is powerful, and as individuals, we float in and out of groups choosing some, rejecting others. When a person decides to join a group, how does that happen? What happens to the individual when he or she becomes part of a group? How do people communicate (or not) within in a group? At what point (and how) does the group’s psychology become the individual’s psychology? My work explores human identity, experience, and behavior in the context of groups and contemporary social interactions.

Group Dynamics is a series of painted images exploring the body language of individuals in two different settings. In one setting, individuals are surrounded by people and clearly part of a group. In the other, individuals are surrounded by people but appear to be alone… not wanting to join those around them and actively distancing themselves from others. The painted images of “Group Dynamics” depict the body language that individuals observe on a daily basis and have learned to decode.

We study and linger over paintings. Electronic and printed images are formatted in corners and encircled by type. We are bombarded by visual information wherever we look, so we have learned to receive and process these visual images very quickly. Using the format of this contemporary visual language, the painted images of Group Dynamics are meant to recreate that rapid look, that glimpse one gets walking down the street … as we assess who and what is going on around us.