My interest in dog aggression began with routine trips to the dog park. The intense but often overlooked body language of the animals, from harmless nipping and roughhousing, to outright fights for domination, inspired the direction of my work. It lead to research in underground dog fighting. The grotesque, deformed forms in my paintings relate to the absolute loyalty of dogs pitted against one another, and the extent to which they are willing to please their masters even if it means bloodshed and death.