Personal Statement

It’s been hard to be an artist, work fulltime in textile printing and also act as art historian for my own work. Documentation and meaning has been lost. The story is incomplete.

My attempt was to find freedom as a creative performer and designer, using video and sound as my mediums. I am also a painter and poet. Ultimately, the purpose has been to create work that stands on its own as an interpreter of my life experience.

Art is social experimentation that’s connected to the past. I quote my heroes in my work as one can see an affinity to styles and form from prior generations. I find myself pushing into new expression while acting as a conduit to all I’ve seen and find meaningful.

In this way, I am a vessel of the human experience. I am a sign of the struggle to create beauty while connecting to the past and present.

The world has changed very quickly in the last 30 years. When I started college the internet was just beginning but now we see digital media come fully into the hands of everyday people. In some ways this access has created a new form of chaos that undermines the very developments that just transpired. Now, everyone has a voice – and that often drowns out the voices of people who chose to be artists first and foremost.

Although it was a struggle, there is no purpose in lamenting the difficulties I overcame to find my voice. My work is an attempt to express what I cannot otherwise demonstrate – my love for humanity, my sorrow for abused and neglected people who came before me, those who remain and those to come. The work itself will speak both of my own pain and beauty – one hopes, the emotion and effort will transcend the medium.

I create artifacts to prove I deserve to exist – Casey Hallas 9/6/21.