Background

I am an oil painter and illustrator based in Boston, Massachusetts. I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri and attended Boston University where I received a BFA in painting.  

My work

I loved reading as a child and I favored books with illustrations. This adoration of children’s illustrations fueled my interest in narrative painting and for this reason humor and play are at the heart of my work. The Barefoot Book of Princesses by Caitlin Matthews was especially influential in developing my visual library and aesthetic preferences. The illustrator used deep blues and purples in depicting these princess tales and an emphasis on celestial motifs. I am drawn to similar palettes in my own work and I frequently include the night sky filled with stars and the moon in my own paintings. “Rats in Space '' showcases these color pairings and subject matter with a hazy luminous moon in the center of the composition flanked by floating yellow rats and bright stars. 

These stories also encouraged an interest in narrative painting. Instead of starting with a cohesive story, I began with creating a cast of characters to be inserted into narratives of my choosing. In recent years, rats have become the protagonists of my work. The rats are stylized alien creatures with exaggerated monstrous features including slit-like eyes and long sharp snouts filled with spikey teeth. The universe of the rodents also includes a monstrous camel, my friends and myself, and a prophet in the form of a ceramic duck in christmas regalia. When a new character finds a place in my visual universe, I can continue to explore their characterization and create a personality. 

The story I am developing is never finished. I want to leave an opening in every painting for the viewer to question the narrative. Rather than make a complete chronicle of the characters, every painting contains a sense of mystery that obstructs a definitive or clear story. The viewer is left guessing and encourages further inspection in the work. It is this mystery that engages me to make another painting and continue to explore the world my characters inhabit.