When we look at Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, why don’t we see the viewer reflected in the mirror? This question inspired my interest in a painting’s ability to convey and distort multiple realities. I am concerned with a kind of imagery that is involved with framing experience. The narratives in my work incorporate viewers and their space as an extension of the space inside the painting. I do this by depicting spatial loops and by using parallel mirrors and other devices for representing infinity.

Paintings are an extension of reality, because every mark describes something about the person who made it, and every mirror reflects the person viewing it. My paintings are portraits of my friends, whose identities have been transformed to fit formal conventions, my past experiences, and my interests. I consider the stuff in my paintings to be a framework for an interchange between a self-portrait and a portrait of the viewer.