My paintings are cinematic stills, sitcoms without a laugh track, and small dramas set in passing moments of the American everyday. I use animals as stand-ins for humans who, in my art, face situations of everyday monotony in a surreal world in which social integration of animals has begun. They are new to the idea of filling the day with activities set to schedules. Their new surroundings feel uninviting, though they attempt to assimilate. Fearful or obedient, they try to act as expected and begin adapting to new conditions of their lives. No animals were harmed in the making of these paintings, only anthropomorphized by tasks which evoke emotional responses to situations one finds oneself in; loneliness, waiting, being rushed, embarrassment, domestic disputes, feeling overwhelmed, feeling horny, not fitting in. The individuals painted are bound by their scope of being an animal, only to have as much free-will as their social understanding or hubris allows. They have feelings, possessions, and instincts. Their goal is to succeed, to be good the way humans feel being expected to conform to the myriad of societal “norms” that, in America, are changing and continue to be debated.
