Much of my work revolves around the idea that modern life is fake or faux. My paintings grapple with the challenge of defining reality in both Contemporary and Historical American experiences by utilizing faux finishes, jokes, film stills, myths, or pseudo-factual titles. My objective is not to point at the folly of sentiment, the illusion of the American Dream, or other aspects of modern spectacular society but to ponder what actually composes life and reality and also to utilize versions of that illusion as a tool for defining who we are.

Within my faux work, agrarian utilitarian tools, knives, radios, etc. become the glamorized symbolic objects/artifacts that have out-lived their owners and transcended intended function and purpose. They have become a façade for themselves. This is a metaphor for the objectification of the world around us. This is also highly critical primarily aesthetic or superficial connections to the past. It is the animation and personification of these relics as self-conscious that suggests the need for utilitarian knowledge over the commoditization/glamorization of what has become a culture of non-making.

In my work, fable and myth emerge from behind the illusions of modern society, from uncertainty, and from what is forgotten. I am interested in how factual information is related to the pieces, mainly as it’s structure. However, my work is based on the hope that in the end the investment that the spectator makes is met with the reward of some explanation. In my work, Time, date, and era play a large role in creating a believable illusion. I use this structural strategy in tandem with my ideas on the faux, and utilitarian allusions to create believable mythic, spatial, natural, and temporal relationships.