My paintings represent the obscure that can be found in the mundane. They present humor where an undiscerning eye sees the commonplace. The scenes of urban waste I paint symbolize our commodified, throwaway American culture. A fast-paced, “out with the old, in with the new” consumer culture is something I, as a middle-class American, can strongly relate to. This idea, combined with its precise execution, informs my body of work. Applying rich detail and focusing primarily on the artistic elements of space, composition, and color, I enhance idiosyncrasies I find within the ordinary.

There is a lineage of artists who have long established the interconnection between two-dimensional forms and the material world. I am interested in extending this conversation. I think of my works as assembled paintings, but they are perhaps more properly identified as sculptures born of a planar understanding. I suggest that a world exists between surface and space. My paintings inhabit this world. I also believe that it is possible to strip the storied objects I find of their native identities and associations.

Tantra: indulgence with awareness, vision without judgment––observant, not evaluative. I paint along this continuum. My works come from an engagement with the materiality of paint and the complexity of the expressive mark. They enter into a dialogue beyond their powers to represent. Using smears, scratches, scrapes, and copious amounts of paint, I compose visual interrogatories of cultural minutia: metallic flashes, fake eyelashes, yoga mats, coconut water, glossy magazines, platinum blonde hair, gold hoops, turquoise, worn leather, furs, and painted nails.