Haley Armstrong

I am interested in the constructs of archetypes in popular culture. In particular, the coming of age tropes for young women such as the coquette, the manic pixie dream girl, or the damsel in distress. Deeply complex feelings get distilled down into characters that are continually repeated in our culture, creating artificial personas. Yet within these dramatic characters there are still subtle truths, characters that resonate deeply in personal and private places. What do these archetypes have to teach us about our own reality? How do they show us who we really are and how do they imprison us within the confines of their own construction? Through layering hyper-saturated color in thin scumbled layers, the archetypal figures recall a psychological “loudness” expressed in otherwise mundane imagery. The life-sized to slightly larger-than-life-sized scale of the figures draws a visual connection to the movie-imagery of pop culture, and consequently, its themes. Ultimately, the work sits at the intersection of femininity,fabricated yet truthful narrative, and psychological expression.