Artist Statement

 My work centers around my interest in reviving the ancestral connection between the land, the body and each other. This means rediscovering how to live in community with one other and the natural world, and liberating our bodies and our minds to do so. While I want to move toward more overtly hopeful and inspiring imagery, I often find that my art is a way for me to reflect on and work through on my experiences in the individualistic rottenness we are forced to participate in. Though my subjects may appear entirely depressing, there is always a sense of playfulness that manifests in a dark-humor way. It is important to me to create artwork that calls out and pokes fun at the world systems we live under, but also maintains hope and love for the better world that is possible. 

Equally important to the meaning behind my work is what I lovingly call its “freaky fluorescence”, referring to the colorful, pseudo-surrealist style. Behind every color is an important psychological and spiritual meaning that I am very intentional about choosing and working with. The overall effect is almost hallucinogenic, creating a distorted sense of reality is well suited to the subjects that inspire my work. I revel in how it takes the expectations that come with bright colors and turns them on their head. One would expect cheerful, lively subjects and I subvert that by using them to show a warped and twisted reality.

As someone who is queer and trans, my work is very personal and meditative about the experiences I've gone through. I feel my art sits at a nexus between individual and community conversations because while my work is about my personal journey, the experience of suppressing the full self is something everyone in those communities is unfortunately very familiar with. To me, there is incredible power in creating media that can make even a single person realize that they are not alone, that there is compassion and belonging out there for them. 

There are many, many people and works that have had lasting influences on my art. In terms of technical and visual influence, I include Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Jen Mann, Archibald Motley and Renee Magritte at the top of the list. In terms of concept/subject, I include bell hooks’ Love: New Visions, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, artists Cassils, Richard Notkin and of course Andrew Woolbright, whom I studied under at SUNY New Paltz and instilled in me a sense of what it truly means to be an artist, not just someone who makes art.  

Biography

Kacey is a 25 year old nonbinary emerging artist living and working in the mid-Hudson Valley. They were born and grew up in Rockland County as the middle child of 3 sisters and their parents. They were devoted to art and creativity from an early age. Kacey was diagnosed with diabetes at 5  years old, which created in them an early awareness of the body, how we are perceived by others, and what it means to be seen as other. In high school, they came out as gay. It wasn't until six years later, while studying art at SUNY New Paltz and experiencing extreme burnout that they were finally able to piece together that they were trans. Through the love and nurturing of chosen family, they were able to start transitioning and start living fully as Kacey. Since learning more about themselves, Kacey has found a renewed passion for life and for art.