In my work I mix the mundane with the fantastic, the exterior world of a storybook popular culture and the interior world of intense feeling.

 

I am interested in abstract surrealist and expressionist art as well as children's toys. Although the former group is considered high culture and the latter popular culture, they share similarities. Both use abstracted forms to create an emotional reaction. Picasso contorted the human form in Guernica to express human suffering. The saccharine cute features of a commercial teddy bear are an exaggeration of a real bear cub's.

 

Many of my animations and painting star a red stuffed rabbit. These works, influenced by children’s book illustrations, explore complex emotional issues such as fear, jealousy, loss and regret. The allegorical and childlike imagery allows me depict difficult issues that might be too painful if portrayed in a more direct manor.