STATEMENT OF WORK

I paint invented worlds inhabited by hybrid characters: human/animal, female/male. They exhibit bravado in the face of the desperate situations they encounter. These circumstances are implied through context and title and are never made explicit. The absurd solutions I offer only serve to emphasize the direness of their plight. The theme of distress in the paintings is rooted in my love of vintage cartoons, where assistance always appeared when most needed and least expected, and often in a farcical way. I work in oil on panel and start a painting with no pre-conceived idea of what it will be. I often use a photo I’ve taken on my phone as a starting point. It might be an oddly shaped object I saw on the street, or a portion of a landscape. Using a found object as a jumping off point enables me to start painting quickly and without thought, reacting only to shape and color. It gives me an entry into the state in which images start to suggest themselves, then insist on being represented. I feel a tenderness for these creatures, and a sadness as they struggle in an increasingly disorienting world.