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Artist Statement

My paintings are transformations of traditional portraits. I paint people located in natural landscapes, or surrounded by the elements like flowers, grass and trees. I painstakingly delineate these elements to give my compositions an intense energy. Natural motifs often encircle the figures like a halo or a throne in order to give them a religious aura. Even though they are images of regular, everyday young people - they become mystical or sinister. Objects like a melting ice cream cone, a bandaged hand or an exotic plant become symbols of power or bad omens. Bright glazed colors create a luminous, surreal atmosphere, to heighten the effect of myth and religiosity. The unreal light provides a hint at what’s happening underneath our film of normalcy. Ultimately, my work invites a viewer to an otherworldly place, where one is constantly reminded of the strange, chaotic forces pulsing underneath our thin veil of realm.