I use babies as subjects for my paintings because their inherent
qualities of beauty, purity and their seemingly uncluttered personalities are potent signifiers.
Interestingly, these same qualities are essentially hidden within adults. Working from photographs,
I choose images of babies that express particular qualities of human innocence and create positional
associations with other elements that allow me to examine present day issues.
During the painting process, insights emerge, often leading to changes in the
paintings as well as in my thoughts. For example, I am interested in the idea of collisions
as a metaphor for change in my life. The painting Baby Collisions was the result of
visiting SLAC, Stanford's linear particle accelerator. I combined images of subatomic particle collisions with
floating babies and suspended them in a void. During the painting process I came to realize that my transformation
is frequently the result of such hypothetical bumps between myself, life experiences, and other people.
Recently, my work has explored human innocence in the face of global problems such as pollution and war. In the drawing Pollution a baby is contacting with a toxic pink ball, both of which have devilish faces. I question the dynamics of "innocent" avoidance as constituting choice by observing actions, which appear small, insignificant or "innocent." For example, what is ethical when using gasoline for a pleasurable day trip knowing that gas consumption contributes to pollution? By posing images of babies in contrasting situations and environments I explore topics like these.