My work creates a space where memory, color, and object collide to explore how painting and sculpture can shift from playful to strange, intimate, and hard to define. Through narrative painting and sculptural forms I call Adorbs, I create images that first appear playful, then gradually become something stranger, more intimate, and harder to define.
In this body of work, I use narrative painting to give the Adorbs new meaning and context. Instead of placing them against a white background, I bring them into painted environments drawn from my experiences and memories. These paintings create setting, emotional atmosphere, and visual tension, allowing the Adorbs to exist in a fuller world.
The paintings come from repeated sights, recurring memories, or experiences that stay with me over time. When I paint them, they sometimes appear vivid and present, while at other times they begin to fade, remembering how memory can be intense, unstable, and ephemeral. I use bold colors and experiment with color theory and complementary relationships to create a sense of power and contrast.
The Adorbs themselves are shaped quickly through the fast-curing procedure of epoxy putty. I choose epoxy putty for its fastness and flexibility: its short setting time allows for direct, spontaneous shaping, which keeps the forms expressive. The material also holds fine detail and do sanding and carving. I am obsessed with making each Adorb feel as individual as possible, giving each one its own presence, attitude, and visual language. I often add suggestive or provocative elements without fully naming what they are, allowing viewers to examine each Adorb closely and arrive at their own reading. At times, the work may invite a chuckle; at others, a gasp.
I am interested in the tension between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. The Adorbs can appear in perfect arrangements or scatter across the painting in more abstract ways. This relationship between order and disruption lets me experiment with rhythm, placement, and movement while blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture.