Caught somewhere between romanticism, cynicism, and comedy, my work contemplates hubris, humility, and our human tendency to view the world through hierarchical structures. Set in my rural childhood town, these paintings explore the strange yet familiar intersections between the manmade and the organic, where the desire to contain, control, and optimize seems at odds with an inherent appreciation and yearning for the natural. And with these works, I seek to encourage a championing of humility over ego. My figures are unheroic and alone; they do not flaunt themselves to the world, but, rather, contemplate their place in it. Here is where hope lies, in my opinion; here, in the humble assertion that we are not in fact champions of the world, but characters within it.