Artist Statement

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The work I have been devoted to for the last decade revolves around the feelings I experience as a recovering heroin addict. I long for the simplicity of childhood.  Something that is no longer attainable to an individual who has experienced the world as I.  My approach to visually articulating my experiences varies from still life paintings where objects are lonely without the indication of human interaction; to large-scale narrative figure paintings about my families struggles with the disease of addiction. 

My compositions hang on a framework discovered through the study of Art History and Italian Renaissance artists use of mathematical perfection. The dynamic quality provided by the Golden Mean help to elevate my personal narrative paintings to a status previously reserved for history painting and religious iconography. 

I am not exclusively informed by historical works as I rely heavily on the direct painting approach of the New Leipzig School of painters.  Neo Rauch’s surreal worlds with fantastical creatures, hidden symbolism, and strong figure groupings, drive me to continuing pushing my work in new directions. 

The interactions between figures and animals in invented surrealistic worlds are central to my large-scale narrative figure paintings. Themes of domesticity and childhood walk hand and hand with those of sexuality, voyeurism and addiction in my colorfully chaotic world.