Artifacts of the studio, letters of poetry; to me painting is all at once malleable and reflective, stagnant and precarious, familiar and compulsive. I make paintings that act like magnets for aesthetic information of varying status. Looking outward into visual culture, back into art history, and around our everyday environments, I combine imagery and materials of opposing taste and value. My work is a reflection of the environment it is made in, my studio acts a laboratory for experimentation and inquiry. The small scale of my work builds on its content; I think of my paintings as books, letters, or simply compartmentalized information. Painting is a vehicle for me to express optimism with marginal materials. Paper found on the street, sawdust, or dried-up paint: discarded materials can have a second chance through the elevation of the art object.