I am a silent observer. I spend a majority of my time analyzing the interactions between people.  I often have very little to add to conversations and if I do, I find myself wishing that I never had.  People confound and frustrate me.  But the truth is that they are what drive me.  My paintings are my attempt at understanding them. We are constantly growing and changing, ever evolving. I am fascinated not only by the individual, but also by humans in a much broader sense; the human condition. Even in my abstract works I find myself looking to the figure for a starting point.  Even if it only starts with a line echoing a shadow cast by the figure, it begins with the figure because of my inherent need to represent what is relatable. I am human, therefore I relate to what is human.

            It is my belief that figurative art must be elevated from the level of mere realistic representation to a level that also communicates an element of human nature. My figurative works address both the individual and how the environment affects the individual. There are so many variants on what shapes us as people, as a whole and as individuals, that I find it impossible to focus on one aspect in our lives that may or may not be the driving force behind who we are. Our interactions with others, our most intimate relationships, societal “norms”, the media, politics, nature versus nurture, life experience: this endless list of “things” that elevate us from an impersonal human level to people; a population made up of individuals that think, feel, and perceive differently. I want to focus on what makes us individuals but also what unifies us. 

            I have found that I am no longer satisfied in depicting accurate representations of forms. I am drawn to a variety of mediums, techniques, and processes; it is my intention to utilize them to represent life’s most intimate moments.  It is my intention to depict that feeling of loneliness that tends to find us when our relationships could not be more perfect.  I want to depict the conflict between logical thought and completely illogical feeling.  Ultimately I want to depict the very essence of what makes us human.  I want my work to evoke a relatable experience in all who view it.

            The most exciting aspect of creating a piece of art is not the end result, but instead the process of that creation. I never want the end result to overshadow the process.  In my work, I spend a lot of time working and reworking the composition until I feel it is complete.  Recently, I have been searching for a way to marry my interest in abstraction and composition with my love of photorealism.  My goal is to integrate the reference photo with the overall composition because no matter how hard I try to get away from it, I always come back to the figure.  I find satisfaction in accurately depicting that figure.  I am infatuated with the elegant and subtle forms the cyanotype silhouette presents to me and I enjoy the struggle of blurring the lines between representation and abstraction.