In a time when our attention, and to a large extent our culture, is very often commanded and shaped by the superficial and destructive aspects of our society, the role of art and the artist must be one of a subverter and challenger to such things, rather than simply an imitator or champion of them. My work is intended to be an impetus for self-reflection and objectivity; it’s an appeal to the viewer to stop and honestly question the true role that he or she plays in society and the environment as a whole.

“That’s the way the mind works: the human brain is genetically predisposed toward organization, yet if not tightly controlled will link one image fragment to another on the flimsiest of pretense and in the most freewheeling manner, as if it takes a kind of organic pleasure in creative association, without regard for logic or chronological sequence.”

—Tom Robbins, Fierce Invalids From Hot Climates

As far back as I can remember, my interest has been the human story. This is the thing that inspires me day to day, just knowing about other people. There are stories unfolding around me all of the time, whether belonging to me or not, and I wish to document them. My work is about the things that have happened to me, the things that I know, and about the people that surround and affect me. At times they might say or do a thing that keeps churning in my head until it finds itself in a painting. They are my strongest influences, these people, what they do, and their reaction or mine.

Many cultures have literary or religious traditions that recognize life’s duality, often involving parabolic characters whose symbolic actions or attributes create conflicting meanings. I capitalize on this concept by using broad cultural references in cryptic tableaus inspired by my emotional states and interactions with others. I often depict my characters in the moments of contemplation that immediately precede action; I set them in depthless landscapes of saturated color washes, leaving each character’s agency and circumstances to be defined by viewers.

My work is based on the spiritual residue and shared memories that are left behind by the built symbols of our presence on Earth. Telephone poles, railroad tracks, stairways, and buildings are shared across generations. I am interested in what is remembered and forgotten as these symbols occupy the spaces we create and the spaces in between which have been created unintentionally. Thousands of people walk by and through these spaces, each an individual with their own experiences. In the same room where an old couple repeats words of love, a young man once passed away.

Younger. Thinner. More popular with friends. More successful in business. More attractive to lovers. Looking better than ever, conquering your first wrinkle, perfecting your body, starting over, fighting loss, ending suffering.

The urban landscape has been the focus of my artwork since I moved from New York City to Maryland in 2003. I’m fascinated by the endless patterns of colors and shadows produced by the changing light throughout the day and even at different times of the year.

Whether it is interpersonal domestic relationships or governmental structures, power struggles are always present in our lives. In my work, I question sources of power and how they effect our identity and emotions. I use art to make the viewer aware of her place within these hierarchies. I often use a combination of found and handmade objects as symbols to express these ideas, treating these materials like paint.

My current body of work explores the subject of manufactured landscapes, specifically the landscape of surface mines. I consider these landscapes both as sites of commodified nature and beautiful archeological relics of our movement across the land.

My work considers the increasing levels of entropy in the world. The paintings refer to signs along the way, in various sites, connected by air and water. These indices point to a time and place in which the distant past, our current, and a rapidly advancing future will meet. These signs are monuments to a future in which they will no longer exist, monuments to futures that may not exist.