These drawings depict a disorienting combination of both interior and exterior space. In an exploration of both individual memory and collective history, personal symbols are merged with an expansive stream of familiar forms. I think of my drawings as a reflection upon our strange but urgent longings, as well as the aesthetics of false utopias found in contemporary life. I’m seeking to describe the thrill of surrendering to an unknown place, a fever dream of contemporary influences, and the surprise occurrence of magic in ordinary places. Combining humor with earnestness, each work is at once uncanny and simultaneously unrestrained.

The graphite pencil and charcoal of these works are treated as painting tools, and the paper as canvas. The space of these drawings is off-kilter and often fluctuates between being graphic yet expressionistic; it is flattened yet represents believable depth. Often, the work is inspired by creating a series of semantic games or lists, or through listening to music. The drawings feel as if they are the by-product of an impossible gravitational pull, whereby all symbols and images associated to modernity collide. The pieces are each a seamless blend of landscape, interiors, abstract patterns, and cartoon figuration. These nearly hallucinatory black and white images are further complicated by something more personal; with something that may not seem to fit; with something irresolute and sufficiently odd.