Artist Statement

My paintings are a celebration and obsessive investigation of texture, luminosity and transparency. I am fascinated by the subtle shifts in temperature that occur as light dances across the peeling skin of a shallot or as vines entwine and snake their way up a wall describing a juicy maze of shadows and highlights. I articulate these moments with a fervor that is equal parts joy and neurosis.

When I paint, I wrestle with my conflicting desires to connect with, and escape from, the world outside my studio. As a born-and-raised New Yorker, I struggle between my appreciation of crowds and constant stimuli versus yearning for space and solitude — a tension that infuses my work. While these paintings are an ode to nature, many of the compositions can also be overwhelming and even claustrophobic. Is making art a way to connect or is it a means of escape? It is this enduring conflict that makes the very act of painting so challenging and yet so deeply satisfying.