In all my work there is a tension between a depicted reality and an apparent narrative that is inscrutable. I use this difference between the visible and the mysterious as a metaphor for our being in the world. In the West, we think we have figured out how the world works because we have analyzed it on the material level, but in doing so, we have separated ourselves from all other life forms—our desire for control and domination has alienated us from both our fellow species and the land that sustains us. I perceive this historical process as a tragic loss; my paintings are a lament over the terrible cost of what we call progress. Such hubris is all the more mysterious because with our astonishing capacity to reflect on our actions we have accumulated enough wisdom to properly conduct ourselves on this planet—we just seem unable to put it into practice. My work attempts to visualize the mystery of this contradiction embedded in the human condition.