STATEMENT

My work as well as the exhibitions I have curated are a result of my fascination and concern for animals. I began focusing on animals as subject matter in my paintings over 20 years ago, by celebrating them with both levity and beauty. Not long after, my attention was directed to animals raised in captivity and environmentally at risk. I was deeply disturbed. This, in contrast to the casting of human traits on our adored animal companions influences my work.

Utilizing surrealism as a stage to bring awareness to the animals' situation, I often use an unnatural setting to point out the failure of the human-animal bond and the tendency of humans to impose their own agenda despite the risks.

My goal is to draw the viewer into these fabricated worlds with humor and attraction, while providing a contrast with a sense of foreboding as animals speak from a place of honesty about their state and the relationship of human beings to it.