The work is a primarily autobiographical body of paintings that challenges the notion that the home is a place of familiarity, connection, quiet, and comfort. I unmake the predictability of the spaces through either subtle or overt alterations of these once commonplace areas. While these spaces are grounded in observable reality, they are not entirely logical and operate as psychological environments that often enter the realm of the uncanny or melancholic.

This work operates within the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdowns, health conditions, and virus spikes have pushed people to stay home more. This greater time at home has strained stereotypical expectations of the home and revealed the depth of environment and relationship failings.

Strange angles, intense moments of color, and a focus on contrasting value, temperature, and saturation serve to make the home feel strange and disconcerting. Solitary figures feel still and quiet in contrast with any visual loudness. Pairs of figures exude a sense of unease and separation, and they often fail to interact with each other. Tension and energy shown through visual means like color are indicative of potential psychological or relationship strain and disconnect within the domestic scenes depicted. As a result, the visual decisions made in distorting the home environment operate metaphorically and as extensions of the occupiers.

Presence
oil on paper mounted on panel

Untitled
oil on paper mounted on panel