Artist Statement: I think of my still life paintings as passive-aggressive, intended to be both sweet and destructive. While they exhibit components of traditional still life – lush flowers, fabrics, and vases - the subjects are often smashed or upended, suggestive of domestic disturbance, disaster, or jilted love. While my technique is precise, the paintings are a meditation on the impossibility of control over nature – human and otherwise. They’re vanitas paintings, about the transitory nature of wealth, life, relationships, and understanding. While that may sound maudlin, the acknowledgment of impermanence allows one to more richly appreciate one's present experience. I want the paintings  to provide an active rather than passive viewing experience. The upended subjects, complex background fabrics, and distorted reflections are all intended to add a dynamism and complexity, to create a space in which the viewer can become lost. The joy of still life painting, for me, is in intimately exploring a subject by looking intensely. I hope that the paintings can convey that sense of vitality and fascination. © All Images

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