Artist Statement
My work largely draws from the cultural inconsistencies of my background of growing up on the Grand Strand of South Carolina, a place recognizable for its hospitality, and paradoxically, its bigotry. Figurative painting is what drives my interest and helps me to explore contradiction and anxiety buried in normalcy. The work aims to be familiar and within the realm of conventional, figurative oil paintings only at first glance. Working within the context of traditional representational work and portraiture, the goal is to create something unsettling and more disconcerting than an academic, technical representation.
