I am an oil painter who creates hyperrealist, food-centered, still life paintings. Always looking for the best handmade confections and manufactured childhood staples to use as props, I employ vivid color palettes, interesting compositions, and dramatic light and shadow to capture the details that are signatures of my work. In my paintings, I address themes such as nostalgia, desire, longing, indulgence, decadence, and wistfulness. Most people have a nostalgic relationship with, and significant memories attached to foods from their childhood. I explore these relationships in my work, pursuing similar themes found in the works of artists Wayne Thiebaud and Claes Oldenburg. Like Thiebaud, I use color and subject matter to create an emotional connection between my viewers and my paintings. Like Oldenburg, I monumentalize food in larger-than-life scale. Creating works at this size transforms my subjects from simple childhood delights to something of greater importance. In contrast to these artists, I give great attention to detail and negative space. The use of hyperrealistic detail and framing of my subjects gives one the perception that these foods are being archived as an important part of our American culture and history. Furthermore, by employing a white frame of negative space around many of my subjects, I lovingly memorialize these sugary treats, as well as the memories and emotions associated with them.
