Education
Graduated: 1992, Bachelors of Fine Arts, Drawing Major, University of Oklahoma.
Attended: Kansas City Art Institute, University of Central Oklahoma, and College of Santa Fe
Exhibitions
2008 City Arts Center Stage, 'THE SUPER FANTASTIC TOY TOWN CIRCUS EXTRAORDINARY',
stop-motion animated short, TRT 5:30, screened as part of the Yippee Yi Yo Show, July, OKC, OK
2007 Whittier Gallery, 'Live Monsters', Riney Fine Arts Center, Friends University, Witchita, KS.
2007 Conduit Gallery, 'Monsters in the Living Room', Dallas, TX.
2006 Mainsite Contemporary Art, 'Chrome Chocolate', Norman, OK.
2005 Antimart, 'Little Devils', Brooklyn, NY.
2001 Kirkpatrick Center Gallery, 'Fiberworks', juried exhibit, Oklahoma City, OK.
1995 Lovelight, Norman, OK.
1992 Lightwell Gallery, Norman, OK.
1991 College of Santa Fe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
Publications
2008 OVAC Art Focus Oklahoma, January/February, 'Embracing Change', Cover Article, by Lori Oden
2007 PEEL Magazine, 'The Toy Issue', by Garrison Buxton
2007 Glasstire Review, 'A Doll's House', by Charissa Terranova
2007 www.pegasusnews.com/events/ongoing/23693
2006 NYARTSMagazine,'Cityscape; Norman Oklahoma', by April Richon Jacobs
2006 Paste Magazine, May, Starlight Mints photos featured.
2006 Local Publications: Oklahoma Gazette, Non-Zine, Daily Oklahoman, Look OKC
Professional Experience
2003- Present: Managing Director, Curator, MAINSITE Contemporary Art, Norman, Oklahoma
1998- Present: Freelance Photographer
2002-2005 Bully Magazine, Staff Writer, Williamsburg, New York
2002-2004 POP, Staff Writer, Entertainment Section, Norman Transcript, Norman, Oklahoma
2001-2003 Okay Magazine, Staff Writer, OkC, Oklahoma
2002 Oklahoma Gazette, Freelance Writer, OkC, Oklahoma
1991- 1998: Assistant, Office Manager, Kiss of the Wolf, Norman, Oklahoma
Current Affiliations
Norman Gallery Association; Vice President, Oklahoma Public Relations for the Arts Association; member, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition; Co-Curator, Momentum 2007, Andrew Rice for Senate; Volunteer, Paseo Artist Association, Curator; 'On A Roll' 2007
In my work, I am influenced by my compulsive fascinations with toys and vintage popular culture, and the collective manifestations of those fascinations. I am compelled by early influences of the dramas of reality, legends and fantasies. The concept of communication and expression through play, and the serious dichotomies of life and death, secrets and truths are also extremely important.
I take a camera everywhere with me. I don't use the photos I take of life around me for exhibitions because I do not consider them to be a finished product. I think of them as a type of intuitive journaling with images. I take photos of people, sometimes in costumes of my own design, and of places, that both seem significant to me at the time of the shooting. I take these pictures as a way for me to feel as though I have captured time. These images can be seen here- http://www.flickr.com/photos/xianpitt/
The monster photographs I capture are momentary formal depictions of dioramas and monsters I create, using felt, fabric, wire, wool, paper, and other craft materials. The monsters are usually set up with things that I have collected, including types of pins, paper, old photography publications, miniature toys and vintage fabrics. I use a digital rebel, attempting to manipulate the light and backgrounds entirely in camera. Some images may require digital photoshop manipulation, but mostly just for fancy magical effects.
The monsters and dioramas I set up are for photographic purposes only, and are not meant to be displayed, because of the variable materials that make up the sets. This type of diorama can be compared to the term closet drama. Closet Dramas are plays that are meant to be read by a solitary reader and are not intended to be performed on stage. Closet dramas do not concern themselves with stage technique, featuring little action and mostly philosophical rhetoric. Soap operas on television could be considered closet dramas. The soap opera sets are often made of paper and plywood, and are reliant on the frame of the camera to work it's magic, to make the dramatic fantasy seem somewhat real. This dramatic depiction of the intangible line between reality and fantasy is precisely what I set out to do with my monsters' and their portraits.
I made toys as a child to entertain my younger brother when we didn't have a television. We would create elaborate sets with puppets and all our toys, and make anyone sit and watch us perform and work out all the drama. I noticed a difference in adolescence when it was like it wasn't cool to play with toys. My urge to play then became something that was seen as silly and had to be a secret. Making art is an acceptable form of play. After I had my daughter, I realized the importance of the human necessity to express through play, and the concept of the monster dioramas became clear.
The monsters I make may be influenced by my childhood experiences and interactions with my maternal grandfather who was a cookie salesman, a professional magician, avid toy collector, and toy train afficionado. As a child, I went to magic shows with him, and I really did feel like I was a part of a strange circus. I was trained to leap out of a life sized doll's house in a tutu at the right moment. I was used as a 'plant' in the audience where he would perform in malls and schools, beginning the age of two. I was used in levitation tricks, I've had my hand magically removed, and my head chopped off, all the while listening to vintage recordings of 1930's mystery music played on his old motorola record player from behind the hand painted backdrop curtains.
He cared for me daily while my mother and father worked. We were virtually inseparable when we lived in Oklahoma, and I was never want for toys. He once told me that my collection of troll dolls came to life, in the depths of the back yard, after I worriedly told him that they had disappeared. Really, he had made them disappear, to trade for some other more valuable collections, but he would never reveal that truth. I never ventured to that place in the yard, for fear that they may come out and take me away with them.
I am sure I draw from that mysterious disappearing troll experience, always trying to go back to that place where they were, but now I choose to go with them instead, and then to come back and tell the tale.