We are living in dismal times. My paintings create a record of the physical manifestation of hopelessness, apathy, alienation, desire, loss, loneliness, and melancholy created by the conditions of modern life. My work does not offer solutions to predicaments, but illustrates and exposes them. Even though this view of life is bleak, there are various elements of irony and humor in my work. Source images are gleaned from popular culture: film and TV stills, fashion catalogues, magazines, vernacular and personal photography, and youth trends. These images are collaged together, and then reproduced as paintings. The formal aspects of painting are as important to me as the subject matter. Through the inherent quality of paint, I convey these fragile emotional states.