Artist Statement

My dramatic still life paintings evoke an ordered, stylized reality. I paint with an understanding of how people see and know the world, not by recording every detail, as a camera or computer would, but rather by observing the essential, and editing out the unimportant and distracting. Working exclusively from life with no reference to photographs, I observe the ephemeral effects of light and how they appear to the human eye, re-creating the experience in oil paint. Through my selective and heightened focus and dramatic lighting, everyday objects are imbued with weight and meaning. In unstable times, it is valuable to step back and be reminded that despite chaos, the world is still understandable and beautiful.