Tender, sinister, poised, awkward, elegant: my work investigates from a variety of aesthetic and psychological perspectives what is essentially a philosophical question: why do human beings struggle to capture and confine that which brings joy, knowing such an object will inevitably alter or escape. Is this struggle an inherent part of existence? These paintings transfer elements from everyday life and popular culture into forms of seamless clarity that both exploit and transcend their prosaic associations. The sources become obscured as the images are refined into mutable symbols‹open-ended forms with no limit to their interpretation. Each painting presents a distillation of emotion, imbuing the formal field with a spectrum of conflicting sensations. Bands of vibrant color meticulously outline an allusive, non-specific form which is really a space, an absence masquerading as a presence. A plethora of affective mutations and distortions taint the initial expression of joy, functioning as psychological mechanisms to cope with the impermanence of desireýs objects. The paintings convey this corruption, but also strive to transcend it with humor and detachment. The work acknowledges a dark side of affairs while being simultaneously reassuring, buoyant, and emotionally compelling. Embracing the permanence of transience, the paintings replace emptiness with openess, with pleasure in the simple fact of being.