I grew up in a New England suburb, where large, beautiful homes were filled with traditional décor and well cared-for antiques. I became interested in the relationship that tasteful aesthetics have to class, morality, and social power.

My still life-based practice draws from this background. I imagine uneasy banquets and excessive parties in order to provide fodder for the scenes in my work. Objects like Lenox vases, exotic flowers, and decadent table settings become secondary subjects to hallucinogenic distortions and eerie undertones.

The specter of art history also informs my choices. Traditional materials such as metalpoint, egg tempera, and casein are applied to marble-like chalk grounds that have been sanded for hours. The objects in my still lives are often inspired by recurring themes in the Western painting cannon.

Using my experiences of upper middle class desires and high-craft techniques, I create contemporary memento mori to tell stories of how social hierarchy is maintained and wielded through objects.