My paintings imply a human presence through the depiction of accumulated collections. The items in each collection—including the contents of desk drawers, stacks of books, packed boxes, and objects on display—are united by systems of value shaped by mystery, sentimentality, and the matriarchal connection.

Each painting focuses on the oscillation between personal resonance and public display, reality and invention, fixed meaning and open interpretation. I’m interested in the assignment of nonmonetary value to objects as an inherently interior and idiosyncratic act. In this way, the paintings are portraits.

The urge to keep materializes in many ways. What is useful? What is potentially useful at an unknown future date? What is sentimental and how do feelings transfer onto objects? What identity is projected into the world through a carefully arranged collection? What stories are withheld, hidden beneath the object’s surface?